Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) Given Consensus Rating of “Buy” by Brokerages

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Buy” from the six research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.40.

Separately, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Brookfield Business Partners from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday.

Brookfield Business Partners Price Performance

Shares of Brookfield Business Partners stock traded down $0.51 on Friday, hitting $22.03. 4,770 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 12,593. The company has a quick ratio of 0.95, a current ratio of 1.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $24.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $22.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.50. Brookfield Business Partners has a 1-year low of $16.85 and a 1-year high of $26.75.

Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 8th. The business services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.00 by $0.39. Brookfield Business Partners had a return on equity of 30.68% and a net margin of 11.77%. The company had revenue of $9.23 billion for the quarter. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.33 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Brookfield Business Partners will post 5.43 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Brookfield Business Partners Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th were issued a dividend of $0.063 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 29th. This is a boost from Brookfield Business Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.14%. Brookfield Business Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently 3.09%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Brookfield Business Partners

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Brookfield Business Partners by 29.9% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 117,189 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,731,000 after purchasing an additional 26,947 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its stake in Brookfield Business Partners by 12,276.3% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 260,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $6,076,000 after buying an additional 258,662 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 97,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $2,274,000 after buying an additional 16,684 shares in the last quarter. Brookfield Corp ON boosted its position in Brookfield Business Partners by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 25,602,504 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $596,538,000 after buying an additional 428,511 shares during the period. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp grew its stake in shares of Brookfield Business Partners by 13.6% in the third quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 773,975 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $18,145,000 after acquiring an additional 92,413 shares in the last quarter. 85.04% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Brookfield Business Partners

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. is a private equity firm specializing in acquisition. The firm typically invests in business services, infrastructure services, construction, energy, and industrials sector. It prefers to take majority stake in companies. The firm seeks returns of at least 15% on its investments.