CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $31.65.

CNP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price for the company. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $33.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.95. CenterPoint Energy has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $34.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $32.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $30.22.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. As a group, analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.28%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,446,036,000 after buying an additional 27,799,744 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $164,350,000. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $158,232,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $108,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,185,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth $97,348,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.