Bank of Nova Scotia Grows Stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP $BIP

Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 28.0% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,812,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 614,531 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 0.61% of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners worth $101,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in BIP. JCIC Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. JCIC Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $194,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the last quarter. Clear Trail Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 5.0% in the first quarter. Clear Trail Advisors LLC now owns 7,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $265,000 after buying an additional 350 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $304,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 0.9% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 44,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,494,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empire Financial Management Company LLC boosted its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Empire Financial Management Company LLC now owns 40,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,417,000 after acquiring an additional 403 shares during the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BIP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $45.00 price target (up from $44.00) on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. National Bank Financial increased their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 1st. Weiss Ratings lowered Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “hold (c-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $48.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Tuesday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $44.88.

Insider Activity at Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

In related news, CFO David Tyler Krant purchased 1,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 1st. The stock was bought at an average price of $48.10 per share, for a total transaction of $55,315.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 2,150 shares in the company, valued at approximately $103,415. The trade was a 115.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of BIP opened at $40.95 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.95 billion, a PE ratio of 62.04 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s fifty day moving average is $38.20 and its 200 day moving average is $37.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.74, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.68. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP has a fifty-two week low of $29.63 and a fifty-two week high of $41.13.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.90 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.28 by $0.62. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 3.46% and a return on equity of 2.54%. The business had revenue of $6.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.13 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.82 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, June 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 29th were issued a $0.455 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 29th. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.4%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 275.76%.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Profile

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP) is a publicly traded limited partnership that owns and operates a diversified portfolio of infrastructure assets across four core sectors: utilities, transport, energy and data infrastructure. Through long-lived, regulated or contracted assets, Brookfield Infrastructure provides essential services such as electricity transmission and distribution, toll road and port operations, midstream energy logistics and fiber-based data networks.

The company’s utilities division encompasses regulated electricity and gas distribution networks in North and South America, Europe and Australia, ensuring stable cash flows under current regulatory frameworks.