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

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.27.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CNP shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target for the company.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CNP. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 33.9% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 130,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,049,000 after buying an additional 33,064 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 168,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,231,000 after buying an additional 13,180 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 30.2% during the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 392,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,164,000 after acquiring an additional 90,981 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.5% in the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,294,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,093,000 after acquiring an additional 44,041 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 1.9 %

Shares of CNP stock opened at $31.04 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.23 billion, a PE ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $33.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.55.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect 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, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 58.28%.

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.