CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Receives $36.04 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $36.04.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on CNP shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. Argus raised shares of CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Friday, April 25th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $254,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 25.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 6,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $193,000 after acquiring an additional 1,350 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 54,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,000 after acquiring an additional 6,839 shares in the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 116,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,706,000 after acquiring an additional 10,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $228,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $37.48 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $24.46 billion, a PE ratio of 23.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $34.40. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $39.31.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. Analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.35%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.06%.

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.