Compass Planning Associates Inc Makes New Investment in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP)

Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Citigroup Inc. grew its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 159.5% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 175,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,147,000 after acquiring an additional 107,821 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP increased its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 197.9% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 71,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,521,000 after purchasing an additional 47,792 shares during the period. Addenda Capital Inc. raised its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 129.5% in the 4th quarter. Addenda Capital Inc. now owns 680,481 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,632,000 after purchasing an additional 384,000 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 87.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 24,090 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $844,000 after buying an additional 11,217 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 5.4% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 2,550,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $89,362,000 after buying an additional 130,371 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on BIP. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research note on Friday, January 31st. StockNews.com raised Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 1st. Raymond James upped their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, TD Securities boosted their target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $42.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BIP opened at $33.44 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.08, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The stock has a market cap of $15.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 836.21 and a beta of 1.08. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $32.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $33.14. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a twelve month low of $24.84 and a twelve month high of $36.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.24 by $0.58. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 1.64% and a return on equity of 1.17%. On average, research analysts forecast that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be paid a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is an increase from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.14%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4,051.01%.

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.