Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eight research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $43.00.

BBU has been the subject of several analyst reports. National Bank Financial upped their price target on Brookfield Business Partners from $43.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 3rd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d+)” rating on shares of Brookfield Business Partners in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Brookfield Business Partners from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Zacks Research lowered Brookfield Business Partners from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Brookfield Business Partners in a report on Monday, February 2nd.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Business Partners

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of BBU. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Brookfield Business Partners by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. PCJ Investment Counsel Ltd. now owns 1,338,079 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $43,786,000 after buying an additional 67,295 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. boosted its position in shares of Brookfield Business Partners by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 1,119,781 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,513,000 after buying an additional 17,508 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 214.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,013,814 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $35,483,000 after acquiring an additional 690,915 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management increased its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 74.4% during the 3rd quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management now owns 696,679 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,849,000 after acquiring an additional 297,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 16.4% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 643,920 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $22,787,000 after acquiring an additional 90,772 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 85.04% of the company’s stock.

Brookfield Business Partners Price Performance

Brookfield Business Partners stock opened at $31.46 on Monday. Brookfield Business Partners has a 12 month low of $20.62 and a 12 month high of $37.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.84, a current ratio of 0.27 and a quick ratio of 0.19. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.07 and a 200-day simple moving average of $33.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of -121.00 and a beta of 1.30.

Brookfield Business Partners (NYSE:BBU) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 30th. The business services provider reported ($0.48) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.38 by ($1.86). Brookfield Business Partners had a return on equity of 2.67% and a net margin of 1.41%.The company had revenue of $7 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. Equities analysts predict that Brookfield Business Partners will post 5.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Business Partners Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 31st. Investors of record on Monday, March 23rd were issued a dividend of $0.0625 per share. This represents a $0.25 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 23rd. Brookfield Business Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently -96.15%.

Brookfield Business Partners Company Profile

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE: BBU) is a publicly traded partnership sponsored by Brookfield Asset Management. The company focuses on acquiring and operating high-quality businesses across a range of industrial and service-oriented sectors. Through a partnership structure, Brookfield Business Partners seeks to provide investors with returns generated from stable, cash-flowing enterprises that benefit from Brookfield Asset Management’s global scale and operational expertise.

The company’s investment strategy centers on businesses within the industrial services, manufacturing, transportation, and business services segments.