CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.27.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $31.14 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. CenterPoint Energy has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $33.00. The company has a market cap of $20.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a fifty day moving average of $31.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.56.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 33.9% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 130,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,049,000 after purchasing an additional 33,064 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 8.5% during the second quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 168,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,231,000 after purchasing an additional 13,180 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 30.2% in the 2nd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 392,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,164,000 after purchasing an additional 90,981 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rhumbline Advisers grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,294,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,093,000 after buying an additional 44,041 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.