CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Reaches New 1-Year High – Here’s Why

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $34.44 and last traded at $34.16, with a volume of 4707396 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $34.29.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank raised 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

The company has a 50 day moving average of $32.48 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.48. The firm has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.25, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. Sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.35%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,104,000 after purchasing an additional 42,578 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $908,000. ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,564,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after buying an additional 24,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $265,000. 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.