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

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve analysts that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $31.46.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CNP. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP opened at $32.55 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $21.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $32.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.82. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $33.12.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 58.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,564,000. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at about $908,000. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth about $705,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,930,000 after purchasing an additional 56,037 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.