CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Given New $33.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price target lifted by BMO Capital Markets from $32.00 to $33.00 in a research note released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $31.00.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of CNP opened at $30.50 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $29.93 and its 200 day moving average is $28.76. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.42 and a fifty-two week high of $31.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.51 billion, a PE ratio of 21.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.25.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total value of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $623,792.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Norges Bank bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $94,750,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961,464 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 96.0% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,958,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,666,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,640 shares in the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 391.0% in the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,314,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,030,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $229,436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,948 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About CenterPoint Energy

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.