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

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment 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 twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.91.

A number of analysts have weighed in on CNP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP opened at $29.73 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $28.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $31.57. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. The firm has a market cap of $19.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.94, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 59.15%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter worth $25,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% during the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.