CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Upgraded by Barclays to “Equal Weight” Rating

Barclays upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. Barclays currently has $37.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous target price of $30.00.

A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.04.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $37.21 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $35.37 and a 200-day moving average of $32.73. The company has a market capitalization of $24.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $37.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.35%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 80,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,557,000 after purchasing an additional 2,283 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,104,000 after acquiring an additional 42,578 shares during the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth $265,000. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 34,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 12,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,930,000 after acquiring an additional 56,037 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.