CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $34.09 and last traded at $33.79, with a volume of 5587705 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $33.41.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
CNP has been the topic of several analyst reports. 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 research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $31.46.
Read Our Latest Analysis on CNP
CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance
The business's fifty day moving average price is $32.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.22. 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 has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.95.
CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.
CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend
The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 55.63%.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy
A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,104,000 after purchasing an additional 42,578 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $908,000. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,564,000. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $265,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
About CenterPoint Energy
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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