CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Receives $29.36 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.55.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CNP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $28.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 13,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 36.2% in the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 433,039 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,372,000 after purchasing an additional 115,029 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 106,602 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,046,000 after purchasing an additional 12,178 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 26.1% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 68,639 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,961,000 after purchasing an additional 820 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $28.94 on Tuesday. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $31.57. The firm has a market cap of $18.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50-day moving average of $27.48 and a 200 day moving average of $28.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.34%.

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.