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

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $29.91.

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on CNP shares. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $29.73 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $31.57. The stock has a market cap of $19.02 billion, a PE ratio of 20.94, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.20. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $28.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.92.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.15%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 33.5% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 41,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,199,000 after buying an additional 10,346 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1.4% in the third quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 36,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 33.1% in the third quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $599,000 after purchasing an additional 5,068 shares during the period. Tectonic Advisors LLC grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 9.0% in the third quarter. Tectonic Advisors LLC now owns 17,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $527,000 after purchasing an additional 1,475 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 114.6% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 504,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,848,000 after purchasing an additional 269,475 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.