Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) Shares Acquired by Avantax Advisory Services Inc.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 602 shares during the quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners were worth $257,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of BIP. Promus Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Compass Planning Associates Inc purchased a new position in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Dunhill Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the third quarter valued at about $30,000. Larson Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners during the fourth quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Wingate Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 57.92% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:BIP opened at $30.14 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.72, a current ratio of 0.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.72. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.91. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. has a fifty-two week low of $24.84 and a fifty-two week high of $36.50. The company has a market cap of $13.99 billion, a PE ratio of 753.76 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. This is an increase from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.71%. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s payout ratio is 4,300.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.