CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday.

A number of other analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. KeyCorp lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to a sector weight rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $29.90.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $26.21 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $16.77 billion, a PE ratio of 18.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.80. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. CenterPoint Energy has a twelve month low of $25.42 and a twelve month high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 10.81%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.05%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tobam bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.