CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Receives $45.36 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $45.3571.

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore set a $43.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 17th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $49.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $48.00 to $46.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,381,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,158,492,000 after acquiring an additional 719,803 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 58,286,690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,234,712,000 after purchasing an additional 6,794,535 shares during the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4,309.9% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 33,404,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,471,133,000 after purchasing an additional 32,646,983 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 20,941,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $802,916,000 after purchasing an additional 235,346 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $770,871,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $39.24 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.85 billion, a PE ratio of 23.08, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $36.60 and a 1-year high of $45.26. The business’s 50 day moving average is $42.32 and its 200-day moving average is $42.58.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 11.10% and a net margin of 11.61%.During the same period last year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.890-1.910 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.47%.

About CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE: CNP) is a Houston-based regulated utility company that provides electric and natural gas delivery services and related infrastructure operations. The company’s principal activities center on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the greater Houston metropolitan area and the distribution of natural gas to customers across several states in the Midwest and South. As a vertically integrated utility, CenterPoint focuses on the reliable delivery of energy through owned and operated networks of lines, pipelines and associated facilities.

CenterPoint’s core businesses include regulated electric transmission and distribution services, regulated natural gas distribution, and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure.