CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Sets New 12-Month Low at $25.41

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) shares hit a new 52-week low during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $25.41 and last traded at $25.52, with a volume of 314316 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.77.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on CNP. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $28.00 in a report on Tuesday. Scotiabank reduced their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.73.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $16.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $29.24 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,394,000. Dark Forest Capital Management LP raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 28.1% during the second quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 13,921 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $431,000 after acquiring an additional 3,053 shares in the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at $31,188,000. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 59.0% in the 2nd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 324,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,041,000 after purchasing an additional 120,272 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $4,971,000. 91.77% of the stock is 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.