Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 246,163 Shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE:BEP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,851,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 246,163 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 2.75% of Brookfield Renewable Partners worth $178,943,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CCLA Investment Management grew its stake in Brookfield Renewable Partners by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. CCLA Investment Management now owns 2,627,972 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $59,838,000 after purchasing an additional 49,553 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners during the 4th quarter worth approximately $456,000. Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners in the 3rd quarter valued at $42,331,000. MAI Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners by 294.2% during the 3rd quarter. MAI Capital Management now owns 86,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,443,000 after acquiring an additional 64,695 shares during the period. Finally, Mirabella Financial Services LLP boosted its stake in Brookfield Renewable Partners by 145.2% during the third quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 466,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,153,000 after acquiring an additional 276,374 shares in the last quarter. 63.16% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on BEP. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. StockNews.com lowered Brookfield Renewable Partners from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. National Bankshares lowered their target price on Brookfield Renewable Partners from $32.00 to $30.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $31.00 price target on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Brookfield Renewable Partners from $30.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $30.50.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Price Performance

BEP opened at $22.37 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $6.38 billion, a P/E ratio of -25.14 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.73 and a current ratio of 0.25. Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. has a fifty-two week low of $19.92 and a fifty-two week high of $29.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.34 and a 200 day moving average of $24.56.

Brookfield Renewable Partners (NYSE:BEP) (TSE:BEP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, January 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.06) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.16. Brookfield Renewable Partners had a negative net margin of 0.15% and a negative return on equity of 0.03%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. will post -0.99 EPS for the current year.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 28th will be given a dividend of $0.373 per share. This represents a $1.49 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 6.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 28th. This is a boost from Brookfield Renewable Partners’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.36. Brookfield Renewable Partners’s dividend payout ratio is currently -159.55%.

Brookfield Renewable Partners Company Profile

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.