Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (BIP) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.43 on March 31st

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners L.P. (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of 0.43 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.31%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from Brookfield Infrastructure Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has increased its dividend by an average of 6.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 18 consecutive years. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a dividend payout ratio of 125.5% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research 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 Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE BIP opened at $32.42 on Wednesday. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $32.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $33.24. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 52-week low of $24.84 and a 52-week high of $36.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 810.70 and a beta of 1.08.

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 (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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Brookfield Infrastructure Partners will post 3.45 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BIP has been the subject of several analyst reports. TD Securities boosted their price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research note on Friday, January 31st. Raymond James raised 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 research note on Thursday, January 30th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a consensus 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.