CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Receives $31.65 Average PT from Analysts

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $31.65.

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,104,000 after purchasing an additional 42,578 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $908,000. ING Groep NV acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,564,000. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after buying an additional 24,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth $265,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of CNP opened at $34.19 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $32.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.46. CenterPoint Energy has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $34.44. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The firm has a market cap of $22.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.57%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

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.