Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $32.20.
A number of research analysts have recently commented on CNP shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy to $35.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 14th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 15th. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 18th. Finally, Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their target price for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Monday, January 23rd.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Barry T. Smitherman acquired 8,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 7th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $28.38 per share, for a total transaction of $227,181.90. Following the transaction, the director now owns 20,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $582,754.92. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy
Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 176.7% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 137.5% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Affiance Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, MinichMacGregor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. 90.28% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
CenterPoint Energy Price Performance
Shares of CNP opened at $30.10 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.68 and a beta of 0.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.89. CenterPoint Energy has a one year low of $25.03 and a one year high of $33.50. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $30.44 and its 200-day moving average is $30.23.
CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.74 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 17.67%. Equities analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.39 EPS for the current year.
CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 16th will be given a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 15th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.52%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 29.88%.
About CenterPoint Energy
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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