CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Hits New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $34.44 and last traded at $34.16, with a volume of 4707396 shares. The stock had previously closed at $34.29.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.35%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNP. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,446,036,000 after buying an additional 27,799,744 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $164,350,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $158,232,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $108,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,185,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $97,348,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.