CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Receives $29.73 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $29.40.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on CNP shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $28.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $27.76 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $27.98 and its 200 day moving average is $28.66. CenterPoint Energy has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $31.57. The firm has a market cap of $17.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.55, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 15th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.88%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 56.34%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,754,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,386,168,000 after purchasing an additional 865,120 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 17,545,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $499,962,000 after buying an additional 556,802 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,070,000 after buying an additional 2,961,464 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,030,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,436,000 after buying an additional 1,578,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,952,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $170,077,000 after acquiring an additional 46,232 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.