Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $32.20.
A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CNP. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 15th. StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. Guggenheim cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy to $35.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 14th. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 20th.
CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.1 %
Shares of CNP stock opened at $30.10 on Thursday. CenterPoint Energy has a 12-month low of $25.03 and a 12-month high of $33.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $30.44 and its 200 day moving average is $30.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.49, a P/E/G ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.86.
CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 10.77%. Research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.
CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 9th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 16th will be given a dividend of $0.19 per share. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, February 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.88%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In related news, Director Barry T. Smitherman bought 8,005 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, November 7th. The stock was bought at an average price of $28.38 per share, with a total value of $227,181.90. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 20,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $582,754.92. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.09% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% during the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $234,000 after purchasing an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. DNB Asset Management AS increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. DNB Asset Management AS now owns 131,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,932,000 after acquiring an additional 394 shares during the period. Utah Retirement Systems increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Utah Retirement Systems now owns 112,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,177,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 40,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,221,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Comerica Bank increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 99,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,957,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.28% of the company’s stock.
CenterPoint Energy Company Profile
CenterPoint Energy, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the business of power generation and distribution. It operates through the following segments: CenterPoint Energy, Houston Electric, and CERC. The CenterPoint Energy segment consists of electric transmission and distribution services in the Texas gulf coast area in the ERCOT region and electric transmission and distribution services primarily to southwestern Indiana and includes power generation and wholesale power operations in the MISO region.
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