Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.41 (NYSE:BIP)

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, May 1st, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Friday, May 31st will be paid a dividend of 0.405 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, June 28th. This represents a $1.62 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 31st.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has increased its dividend by an average of 4.8% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 17 years. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a dividend payout ratio of 137.3% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Analysts expect Brookfield Infrastructure Partners to earn $3.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.62 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 45.1%.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:BIP traded up $0.47 on Thursday, hitting $28.00. The company had a trading volume of 162,431 shares, compared to its average volume of 512,052. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 199.66 and a beta of 0.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1 year low of $21.03 and a 1 year high of $37.32.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported ($0.20) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.79 by ($0.99). Brookfield Infrastructure Partners had a return on equity of 0.79% and a net margin of 1.34%. The company had revenue of $4.97 billion during the quarter. Equities analysts anticipate that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on BIP shares. National Bank Financial lowered Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 30th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $37.00 to $34.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $40.00 to $36.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. National Bankshares cut 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 report on Tuesday, January 30th. Finally, Raymond James upped their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $40.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.20.

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.