CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

StockNews.com upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Saturday.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on CNP. Bank of America initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a neutral rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $28.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets restated a market perform rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $29.55.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of CNP opened at $29.89 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.52 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company has a market capitalization of $19.12 billion, a PE ratio of 21.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.15%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 185.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 235,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,287,000 after buying an additional 152,878 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth about $1,625,000. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 305,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,735,000 after purchasing an additional 60,223 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 837.7% during the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 210,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,985,000 after purchasing an additional 187,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth about $1,109,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

CenterPoint Energy, Inc operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through two segments, Electric and Natural Gas. The Electric segment includes electric transmission and distribution services to electric customers and electric generation assets, as well as optimizes assets in the wholesale power market.