CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Downgraded by Guggenheim to Neutral

Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price for the company. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.38.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock opened at $32.46 on Thursday. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $31.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.68. The firm has a market cap of $21.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.49, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.95. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $33.12.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.63%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 8.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,611,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,914,000 after buying an additional 200,693 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 172.1% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 5,597 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $174,000 after acquiring an additional 3,540 shares during the period. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 53.9% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 447,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,878,000 after acquiring an additional 156,954 shares in the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.6% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 177,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,511,000 after purchasing an additional 4,488 shares during the period. Finally, Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.5% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 108,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,358,000 after purchasing an additional 36,868 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.