Analysts Set CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Target Price at $30.58

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.27.

CNP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 143,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 18.5% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 38,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,243,000 after buying an additional 6,073 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 82.2% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 17,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $529,000 after acquiring an additional 8,110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,816,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of CNP opened at $31.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.96. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $33.00. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.41.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.63%.

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.