BMO Capital Markets Trims Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Target Price to $36.00

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) had its target price lowered by BMO Capital Markets from $40.00 to $36.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on BIP. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. TD Securities lowered their price target on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $47.00 to $46.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 2nd. National Bank Financial downgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating in a report on Tuesday, January 30th. National Bankshares lowered shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from an outperform rating to a sector perform rating and set a $32.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James increased their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a strong-buy rating in a research report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $38.20.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $29.28 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $13.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 94.45 and a beta of 0.99. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1 year low of $21.03 and a 1 year high of $37.32. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $28.56 and its 200 day moving average is $28.73.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported ($0.20) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.99). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 1.23% and a net margin of 2.05%. The firm had revenue of $4.97 billion during the quarter. On average, equities analysts expect that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.405 per share. This represents a $1.62 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.53%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 31st. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 522.58%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of BIP. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8.5% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 21,652,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $675,785,000 after purchasing an additional 1,701,587 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 19,209,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $604,894,000 after acquiring an additional 1,678,140 shares during the period. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8.3% during the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 17,876,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $525,947,000 after acquiring an additional 1,362,482 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 7,118,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,468,000 after acquiring an additional 1,565,246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 6,681,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,112,217 shares during the period. 57.92% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.