Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE:BEP) Short Interest Up 8.8% in December

Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,110,000 shares, a growth of 8.8% from the December 15th total of 1,020,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 533,900 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.1 days. Approximately 0.4% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

BEP has been the topic of a number of research reports. CIBC lifted their price target on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 9th. StockNews.com lowered Brookfield Renewable Partners from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 26th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group raised Brookfield Renewable Partners from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $24.00 to $31.00 in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $30.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $32.44.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Price Performance

Shares of BEP traded down $0.29 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $20.64. 1,121,749 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 414,074. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $23.91 and a 200-day moving average of $25.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a current ratio of 0.73 and a quick ratio of 0.73. Brookfield Renewable Partners has a one year low of $19.92 and a one year high of $29.56. The firm has a market cap of $5.88 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.17 and a beta of 0.95.

Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The utilities provider reported ($0.32) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.28). Brookfield Renewable Partners had a return on equity of 0.24% and a net margin of 1.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.47 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $843.18 million. During the same period last year, the company posted ($0.14) EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Brookfield Renewable Partners will post -0.88 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Investors of record on Friday, November 29th were paid a dividend of $0.355 per share. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a yield of 6.88%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 29th. Brookfield Renewable Partners’s dividend payout ratio is -173.17%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Brookfield Renewable Partners

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 86.5% in the 3rd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 442 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in Brookfield Renewable Partners in the third quarter valued at $28,000. Waverton Investment Management Ltd purchased a new stake in Brookfield Renewable Partners during the third quarter valued at about $178,000. Barclays PLC raised its position in Brookfield Renewable Partners by 40.6% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 7,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning bought a new stake in Brookfield Renewable Partners during the third quarter worth about $206,000. 63.16% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Company Profile

Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. owns a portfolio of renewable power generating facilities primarily in North America, Colombia, and Brazil. The company generates electricity through hydroelectric, wind, solar, distributed generation, and pumped storage, as well as renewable natural gas, carbon capture and storage, recycling, cogeneration biomass, nuclear services, and power transformation.