CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target Raised to $41.00 at Evercore ISI

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price objective lifted by Evercore ISI from $37.00 to $41.00 in a research report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on CNP. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Argus raised CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.79.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $38.77 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $25.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.38, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $38.86. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $35.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.07.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 59.06%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.