CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Hits New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $43.27 and last traded at $43.1850, with a volume of 2884890 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $42.80.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. BMO Capital Markets raised CenterPoint Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. KeyCorp upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.00.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $28.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.17, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.10.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 19th. The utilities provider reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.51 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.23 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.46% and a net margin of 11.24%.During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.900- EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 57.50%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Investors increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,129,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,381,069,000 after purchasing an additional 833,374 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,381,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,158,492,000 after acquiring an additional 719,803 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 58,286,690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,234,712,000 after purchasing an additional 6,794,535 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 20,941,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $802,916,000 after purchasing an additional 235,346 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,023,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $650,189,000 after purchasing an additional 166,305 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

About CenterPoint Energy

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.