Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Earns “Outperform” Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $40.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective points to a potential upside of 34.43% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on BIP. Raymond James increased their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. TD Securities increased their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 1st. One investment 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. According to MarketBeat, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $42.50.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Down 0.8 %

NYSE:BIP traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $29.76. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 79,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 420,296. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 0.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $13.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 743.61 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.93. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1 year low of $24.84 and a 1 year high of $36.50.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 12.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 26,675,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $848,018,000 after buying an additional 2,866,195 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 8,784,509 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $278,858,000 after acquiring an additional 650,892 shares in the last quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 6,432,381 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $202,492,000 after purchasing an additional 171,748 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 24.6% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 4,003,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $140,273,000 after purchasing an additional 790,078 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted 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 valued at $89,362,000 after purchasing an additional 130,371 shares in the last quarter. 57.92% of the stock is 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.