CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.27.

Several brokerages have commented on CNP. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on 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. StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.9 %

CNP opened at $31.14 on Thursday. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $33.00. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $31.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.56. The firm has a market cap of $20.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The company 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 previous year, the company posted $0.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 58.28%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth $26,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth about $43,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.