CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Scotiabank Analyst Says

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its target price raised by Scotiabank from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.09.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of CNP stock opened at $28.58 on Tuesday. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $31.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business’s fifty day moving average is $28.81 and its 200-day moving average is $29.00. The stock has a market cap of $18.63 billion, a PE ratio of 18.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.63%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,754,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,386,168,000 after buying an additional 865,120 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 3.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 17,545,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $499,962,000 after purchasing an additional 556,802 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake 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 valued at $302,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961,464 shares in the last quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484,079 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,043,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $125,275,000 after purchasing an additional 53,655 shares during the last quarter. 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.