CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Hits New 52-Week Low at $25.41

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)’s share price hit a new 52-week low during mid-day trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $25.41 and last traded at $25.52, with a volume of 314316 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.77.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CNP. StockNews.com raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, August 9th. BMO Capital Markets downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $28.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.73.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.2 %

The stock has a market cap of $16.52 billion, a PE ratio of 18.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company has a 50 day moving average of $29.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.77.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,754,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,386,168,000 after purchasing an additional 865,120 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 3.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 17,545,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $499,962,000 after acquiring an additional 556,802 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $302,070,000 after acquiring an additional 2,961,464 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,030,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $229,436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,952,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $170,077,000 after purchasing an additional 46,232 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.