CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Reaches New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $32.61 and last traded at $32.60, with a volume of 1872513 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $32.48.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the topic of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.00.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $21.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.52, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50 day moving average of $29.79 and a 200 day moving average of $29.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.63%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNP. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 19,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $609,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,780,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.