CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have issued a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.65.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,104,000 after buying an additional 42,578 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $908,000. ING Groep NV purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,564,000. Swiss National Bank raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,863,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $265,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE CNP opened at $34.19 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $32.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.46. CenterPoint Energy has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $34.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $22.28 billion, a PE ratio of 21.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.35%.

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.