Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

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 company traded as high as $35.73 and last traded at $35.67, with a volume of 224276 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.15.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $32.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.27. The stock has a market cap of $16.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 115.39 and a beta of 1.06.

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

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 27th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 30th were given a dividend of $0.405 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 30th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.53%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is 522.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NBC Securities Inc. raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 1.0% during the second quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 40,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,110,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning increased its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 67,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,363,000 after purchasing an additional 389 shares in the last quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Callahan Advisors LLC now owns 22,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $607,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management lifted its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 10,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 3.4% during the 2nd quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $496,000 after buying an additional 591 shares during the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.