CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Receives $36.13 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the fifteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $37.21.

CNP has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays upgraded 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. Mizuho raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,449,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,941,000 after buying an additional 334,631 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,061,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,900,612,000 after acquiring an additional 671,868 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,480,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,169 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,446,036,000 after acquiring an additional 27,799,744 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,490,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $490,205,000 after purchasing an additional 406,832 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP opened at $38.37 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $25.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $35.63. CenterPoint Energy has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $39.31.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 9.16%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.29%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. 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.