CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Short Interest Update

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) was the target of a large increase in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 19,350,000 shares, an increase of 54.9% from the September 30th total of 12,490,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 6,850,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter valued at about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% during the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tobam acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a "sector perform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $29.91.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE CNP traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $29.31. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,756,807 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,082,915. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.92. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $28.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.95. CenterPoint Energy has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $31.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.87%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.69%.

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.