Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume

Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) saw an uptick in trading volume on Friday . 434,293 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 7% from the previous session’s volume of 466,566 shares.The stock last traded at $20.70 and had previously closed at $20.58.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

BEP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, March 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective (down from $36.00) on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, National Bankshares boosted their target price on Brookfield Renewable Partners from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.60.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Stock Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $22.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $23.83.

Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.02) by $0.03. Brookfield Renewable Partners had a return on equity of 2.23% and a net margin of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $1.32 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.08 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.16) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. will post -0.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 28th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 29th were paid a dividend of $0.355 per share. This is an increase from Brookfield Renewable Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.34. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 28th. This represents a $1.42 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.85%. Brookfield Renewable Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently -421.88%.

Institutional Trading of Brookfield Renewable Partners

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 0.9% in the third quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 13,252,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,107,000 after purchasing an additional 117,246 shares during the period. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 17.4% during the 3rd quarter. Montrusco Bolton Investments Inc. now owns 1,984,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,318,000 after purchasing an additional 294,302 shares during the period. Maven Securities LTD acquired a new stake in Brookfield Renewable Partners during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,087,000. Baystate Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Brookfield Renewable Partners in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Alpine Global Management LLC acquired a new position in Brookfield Renewable Partners during the third quarter valued at approximately $282,000. 63.16% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Brookfield Renewable Partners

Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. owns a portfolio of renewable power generating facilities primarily in North America, Colombia, and Brazil. The company generates electricity through hydroelectric, wind, solar, distributed generation, and pumped storage, as well as renewable natural gas, carbon capture and storage, recycling, cogeneration biomass, nuclear services, and power transformation.