Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (BIP) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.43 on December 31st

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, November 7th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 28th will be paid a dividend of 0.43 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, December 31st. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.9%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 28th.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has decreased its dividend payment by an average of 0.1%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 18 consecutive years. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a payout ratio of 117.8% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Equities analysts expect Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to earn $3.80 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 45.3%.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Price Performance

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners stock opened at $35.19 on Friday. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1 year low of $25.72 and a 1 year high of $35.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a current ratio of 0.88. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $32.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.32. The company has a market cap of $16.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 703.86 and a beta of 1.14.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.44 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by ($0.42). The company had revenue of $5.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.05 billion. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 1.15% and a net margin of 1.54%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.76 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $40.00 price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 27th. National Bankshares set a $35.00 target price on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $37.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $40.43.

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.