CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock Price Down 5.3%

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)’s stock price dropped 5.3% during trading on Monday . The stock traded as low as $28.47 and last traded at $28.68. Approximately 3,805,192 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 17% from the average daily volume of 4,577,485 shares. The stock had previously closed at $30.30.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 12th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.90.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.1 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.25. The firm has a market cap of $18.28 billion, a PE ratio of 20.13, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.88.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 56.34%.

Insider Transactions at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total value of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $623,792.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $35,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.