CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on CNP. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a market perform rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Scotiabank cut their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $29.36.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of CNP opened at $28.17 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.02 billion, a PE ratio of 19.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $27.47 and its 200-day moving average is $28.67. CenterPoint Energy has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 56.34%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,754,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,386,168,000 after purchasing an additional 865,120 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 3.3% during the first 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 grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961,464 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,030,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $229,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,952,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $170,077,000 after purchasing an additional 46,232 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.