CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target Increased to $32.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its target price lifted by Wells Fargo & Company from $28.00 to $32.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 6th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.91.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $30.11 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $19.26 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $31.57. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. 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 2.79%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.15%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% in the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

About CenterPoint Energy

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.