Brokerages Set CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) PT at $31.27

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.27.

CNP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP stock opened at $31.64 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $33.00. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $31.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.56. The company has a market capitalization of $20.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.95, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 58.28%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 3,983 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,930,000 after buying an additional 56,037 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.0% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 143,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,234,000 after buying an additional 2,789 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 38,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,243,000 after acquiring an additional 6,073 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.