Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) Reaches New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

Shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $39.92 and last traded at $39.7650, with a volume of 122208 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.44.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BIP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $45.00 target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. National Bank Financial raised their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $37.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.13.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Up 0.3%

The stock has a market capitalization of $18.24 billion, a PE ratio of 43.92 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.08. The business’s 50-day moving average is $36.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.26.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.87 by ($0.42). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a net margin of 4.40% and a return on equity of 3.22%. The firm had revenue of $6.30 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 27th will be paid a dividend of $0.455 per share. This is a positive change from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 27th. This represents a $1.82 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 191.11%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Acumen Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 225.0% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter worth about $42,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 544.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,256 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 1,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hillsdale Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Company Profile

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE: BIP) is a publicly traded limited partnership that owns and operates a diversified portfolio of infrastructure assets across four core sectors: utilities, transport, energy and data infrastructure. Through long-lived, regulated or contracted assets, Brookfield Infrastructure provides essential services such as electricity transmission and distribution, toll road and port operations, midstream energy logistics and fiber-based data networks.

The company’s utilities division encompasses regulated electricity and gas distribution networks in North and South America, Europe and Australia, ensuring stable cash flows under current regulatory frameworks.