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

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $41.6364.

Several research firms have issued reports on CNP. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Mizuho set a $42.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $42.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP opened at $38.28 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $39.15 and a 200 day moving average of $38.08. The stock has a market cap of $24.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.23, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. CenterPoint Energy has a 52-week low of $30.59 and a 52-week high of $40.50.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 65,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,546,354.91. This trade represents a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Root Financial Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $26,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 107.9% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.