CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the thirteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $41.8182.

CNP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Wall Street Zen cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Mizuho set a $42.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $313,456,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 31.6% during the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,859,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,765,000 after buying an additional 1,886,374 shares during the period. UBS Group AG grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 31.3% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 7,261,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $278,390,000 after buying an additional 1,728,865 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3,842.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,609,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $59,135,000 after buying an additional 1,568,714 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,362,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,989,256,000 after acquiring an additional 1,301,374 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.3%

CNP stock opened at $40.22 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $38.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $38.70. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $31.95 and a fifty-two week high of $40.80. The firm has a market cap of $26.26 billion, a PE ratio of 25.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.51.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 yield of 2.3%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.70%.

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.