Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Sets New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $35.73 and last traded at $35.67, with a volume of 224276 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $34.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $35.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. StockNews.com raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Sunday, September 15th. Finally, Cibc World Mkts raised Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $38.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The company has a market cap of $16.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 117.48 and a beta of 1.06. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $32.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.35.

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

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 4.47%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 30th. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 522.58%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BIP. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Clear Point Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the first quarter worth about $33,000. Park Place Capital Corp bought a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the second quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Asset Dedication LLC bought a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 2nd quarter worth about $46,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

About Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

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.