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

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.65.

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $33.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.25, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $32.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.50. 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 has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $34.49.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. Research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 55.35%.

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.