CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Raises Dividend to $0.22 Per Share

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 17th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.22 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21.

CenterPoint Energy has increased its dividend by an average of 1.3% per year over the last three years. CenterPoint Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 48.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect CenterPoint Energy to earn $1.74 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.3%.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 1.1 %

CNP traded down $0.35 on Tuesday, reaching $31.72. 6,723,018 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,270,448. 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 company has a market cap of $20.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.96. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.43. CenterPoint Energy has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $33.00.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during 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 in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on CNP shares. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $29.00 price target for the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.27.

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.