BMO Capital Markets Issues Positive Forecast for CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock Price

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its target price boosted by BMO Capital Markets from $39.00 to $41.00 in a report issued on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. Mizuho lifted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.68.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $38.82 on Thursday. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $28.57 and a 1 year high of $40.50. The business’s fifty day moving average is $38.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.79.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.16% and a net margin of 10.42%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.740-1.760 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Curat Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth $25,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $26,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Chung Wu Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Hedge funds and other 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.