CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Upgraded at Barclays

Barclays upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) from an underweight rating to an equal weight rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Barclays currently has $37.00 price target on the utilities provider's stock, up from their prior price target of $30.00.

CNP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Argus raised shares of CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $42.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $35.46.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.7 %

CNP traded up $0.27 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.17. 6,872,515 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,583,881. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $38.33. The stock has a market cap of $24.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.01, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The business's 50 day moving average is $35.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.88. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. As a group, equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.31%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 31.8% during the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 12,773 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $463,000 after buying an additional 3,083 shares in the last quarter. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $27,000. Amalgamated Bank lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.5% during the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 127,207 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,609,000 after purchasing an additional 1,895 shares during the last quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $231,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 21.4% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 70,494 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,555,000 after buying an additional 12,450 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.