CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have issued a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $30.09.

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CNP shares. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $30.46 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $29.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.06. The firm has a market cap of $19.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $31.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.98%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,754,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,386,168,000 after buying an additional 865,120 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 17,545,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $499,962,000 after acquiring an additional 556,802 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $302,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961,464 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $144,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484,079 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,043,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $125,275,000 after purchasing an additional 53,655 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.