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

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.65.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CNP shares. Barclays boosted 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. Scotiabank raised CenterPoint Energy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and increased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $34.50 target price on the stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.8 %

CNP traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $34.32. 6,019,438 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,177,416. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $32.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.22. CenterPoint Energy has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $34.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a PE ratio of 22.73, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is 55.63%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Capital International Investors raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,449,927 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,774,941,000 after acquiring an additional 334,631 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,480,060,000 after buying an additional 1,922,169 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $1,446,036,000 after buying an additional 27,799,744 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,490,728 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $490,205,000 after buying an additional 406,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,880,015 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $186,573,000 after acquiring an additional 431,260 shares during the period. 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.