CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Receives $42.00 Average PT from Brokerages

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $42.5455.

Several research analysts have issued reports on CNP shares. UBS Group dropped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Mizuho set a $44.00 target price on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, February 23rd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, February 19th.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $43.49 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $40.58 and its 200-day moving average is $39.37. CenterPoint Energy has a 12-month low of $34.10 and a 12-month high of $44.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.58.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 719,803 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 58,286,690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,234,712,000 after purchasing an additional 6,794,535 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $802,916,000 after buying an additional 235,346 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% during 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 buying an additional 166,305 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.