Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) Short Interest Up 7.4% in October

Brookfield Business Partners L.P. (NYSE:BBU) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 50,800 shares, an increase of 7.4% from the October 15th total of 47,300 shares. Currently, 0.1% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 14,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $32.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Business Partners in a research note on Monday, August 5th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $31.40.

Brookfield Business Partners Price Performance

Shares of NYSE BBU opened at $24.41 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $1.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 1.45. Brookfield Business Partners has a 52 week low of $15.00 and a 52 week high of $25.64. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $22.98 and its 200 day moving average price is $20.66. The company has a current ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.12.

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

Brookfield Business Partners Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 29th will be issued a dividend of $0.063 per share. This is a positive change from Brookfield Business Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.06. This represents a $0.25 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 29th. Brookfield Business Partners’s dividend payout ratio is presently 3.09%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 12,276.3% in the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 260,769 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $6,076,000 after buying an additional 258,662 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 20.6% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 97,584 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $2,274,000 after buying an additional 16,684 shares during the period. Brookfield Corp ON raised its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 1.7% in the third 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. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp raised its holdings in 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 valued at $18,145,000 after buying an additional 92,413 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Brookfield Business Partners by 8.7% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 834,512 shares of the business services provider’s stock valued at $20,193,000 after buying an additional 66,786 shares during the period. 85.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Brookfield Business Partners Company Profile

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.