CenterPoint Energy’s (CNP) “Market Perform” Rating Reiterated at BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets reissued their market perform rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $28.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Sunday. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and cut their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to a sector weight rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $29.73.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.1 %

CNP stock opened at $27.20 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $17.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.68. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $31.57.

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

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 56.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth about $33,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% in the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $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.