CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Hits New 12-Month High – Still a Buy?

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $34.98 and last traded at $34.70, with a volume of 1361720 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $34.26.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CNP. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.77.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

The firm has a market cap of $22.54 billion, a PE ratio of 21.72, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $32.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. Equities analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business 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 a positive change 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.54%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.35%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.