Morgan Stanley Upgrades Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) to Overweight

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners (NYSE:BIP) (TSE:BIP.UN) was upgraded by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage presently has a $45.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 26.75% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on BIP. Weiss Ratings raised Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $44.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research report on Friday, January 30th. TD Securities reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $57.00 price target (up from $55.00) on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a report on Friday, January 30th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in a research report on Friday, January 30th. Finally, National Bank Financial boosted their price objective on shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Brookfield Infrastructure Partners presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $42.13.

Brookfield Infrastructure Partners Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of BIP stock opened at $35.50 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.45 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.23. Brookfield Infrastructure Partners has a 1 year low of $25.72 and a 1 year high of $40.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Infrastructure Partners

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in BIP. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter worth about $11,823,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 165,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,747,000 after purchasing an additional 1,764 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners by 25.5% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 31,889 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,108,000 after buying an additional 6,484 shares in the last quarter. MidFirst Bank bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter worth approximately $339,000. Finally, Rare Wolf Capital LLC bought a new stake in Brookfield Infrastructure Partners in the 4th quarter worth approximately $327,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.