Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) Short Interest Up 7.4% in October

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 50,800 shares, a growth of 7.4% from the October 15th total of 47,300 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 14,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.6 days. Approximately 0.1% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Business Partners

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brookfield Corp ON boosted its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 1.7% in the third quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 25,602,504 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $596,538,000 after purchasing an additional 428,511 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 12,276.3% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 260,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,076,000 after purchasing an additional 258,662 shares during the period. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. boosted its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 14.2% in the third quarter. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 1,518,892 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,528,000 after purchasing an additional 188,743 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp boosted its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 13.6% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 773,975 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,145,000 after purchasing an additional 92,413 shares during the period. Finally, Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 14.7% in the third quarter. Scheer Rowlett & Associates Investment Management Ltd. now owns 641,835 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $15,047,000 after purchasing an additional 82,372 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.04% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Business Partners Stock Down 2.9 %

BBU stock opened at $24.41 on Tuesday. Brookfield Business Partners has a twelve month low of $15.00 and a twelve month high of $25.64. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The company has a market capitalization of $1.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $22.98 and a 200-day simple moving average of $20.66.

Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 8th. The business services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.39. Brookfield Business Partners had a net margin of 11.77% and a return on equity of 30.68%. The business had revenue of $9.23 billion during the quarter. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.33 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Brookfield Business Partners will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Business Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be given a dividend of $0.063 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 29th. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.03%. This is an increase from Brookfield Business Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. Brookfield Business Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 3.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $32.00 price objective on shares of Brookfield Business Partners in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Brookfield Business Partners presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $31.40.

About Brookfield Business Partners

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. is a private equity firm specializing in acquisition. The firm typically invests in business services, infrastructure services, construction, energy, and industrials sector. It prefers to take majority stake in companies. The firm seeks returns of at least 15% on its investments.