Short Interest in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Declines By 5.1%

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) was the target of a large decline in short interest in September. As of September 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,680,000 shares, a decline of 5.1% from the August 31st total of 1,770,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 381,200 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.4 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on BIP. Cibc World Mkts upgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.50.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in BIP. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Clear Point Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the first quarter worth about $33,000. Bromfield Sneider Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the first quarter valued at about $39,000. Park Place Capital Corp acquired a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC purchased a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $46,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE BIP opened at $34.57 on Wednesday. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 12 month low of $21.03 and a 12 month high of $35.48. The company has a 50-day moving average of $31.98 and a 200-day moving average of $29.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The company has a market cap of $16.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 111.52 and a beta of 1.05.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.80). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 0.82% and a return on equity of 0.51%. The company had revenue of $5.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.91 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.72 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 20.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a $0.405 dividend. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.69%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 522.58%.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Company Profile

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. owns and operates utilities, transport, midstream, and data businesses in North and South America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific. The company's Utilities segment operates approximately 2,900 km of electricity transmission lines; 4,200 km of natural gas pipelines; 8.1 million electricity and natural gas connections; and 0.6 million long-term contracted sub-metering services.