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

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $35.79.

Several analysts have issued reports on CNP shares. Barclays upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $38.95 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $25.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.50, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $39.31. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $36.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.33.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.26%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 59.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 42,578 shares during the period. Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $265,000. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 34,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 12,563 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position 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 worth $24,930,000 after buying an additional 56,037 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.