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

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $41.6364.

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CNP. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Wall Street Zen upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Mizuho set a $42.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE CNP opened at $37.82 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $24.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.56. CenterPoint Energy has a 12 month low of $30.59 and a 12 month high of $40.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.07 and a 200-day moving average of $38.10.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.70%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $240,746.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 65,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,546,354.91. This trade represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $254,000. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 24.7% during the 1st quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 100,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,641,000 after acquiring an additional 19,908 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 46.3% in the 1st quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 12,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $453,000 after acquiring an additional 3,957 shares during the period. Versor Investments LP acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $554,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 68.3% in the first quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $143,000 after acquiring an additional 1,597 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE: CNP) is a Houston-based regulated utility company that provides electric and natural gas delivery services and related infrastructure operations. The company’s principal activities center on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the greater Houston metropolitan area and the distribution of natural gas to customers across several states in the Midwest and South. As a vertically integrated utility, CenterPoint focuses on the reliable delivery of energy through owned and operated networks of lines, pipelines and associated facilities.

CenterPoint’s core businesses include regulated electric transmission and distribution services, regulated natural gas distribution, and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure.