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

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the eleven analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $29.91.

CNP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target for the company.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 22.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,990,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $114,001,000 after acquiring an additional 723,663 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $230,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 15.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 111,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,164,000 after acquiring an additional 510 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $29.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $31.57. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $28.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.94.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.21 dividend. 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 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 59.15%.

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.