CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $31.62 and last traded at $31.46, with a volume of 70939 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $31.40.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on CNP shares. Scotiabank upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Bank of America assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.09.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.2 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $20.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.15. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.98%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 82.2% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 17,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $529,000 after purchasing an additional 8,110 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,816,000. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,231,000 after acquiring an additional 370,790 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 40,054 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,178,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares during the period. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,009,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $147,387,000 after acquiring an additional 247,944 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.