Short Interest in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Decreases By 8.4%

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) saw a significant drop in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,670,000 shares, a drop of 8.4% from the October 31st total of 18,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 5,680,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.9 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.58.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CNP. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,231,000 after purchasing an additional 370,790 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,009,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $147,387,000 after acquiring an additional 247,944 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,484,079 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,043,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $125,275,000 after acquiring an additional 53,655 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,956,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $116,398,000 after acquiring an additional 110,905 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP stock traded up $0.03 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $32.16. The company had a trading volume of 1,347,237 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,300,124. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $30.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.96 billion, a PE ratio of 21.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.96. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $33.00.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. Analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.63%.

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.