CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Sets New 1-Year High – Should You Buy?

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $38.42 and last traded at $38.25, with a volume of 3585622 shares. The stock had previously closed at $38.24.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CNP shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.79.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.0 %

The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.80 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $33.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.06%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 143,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,789 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,930,000 after purchasing an additional 56,037 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 53.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $364,000 after purchasing an additional 3,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 13,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.