Analysts Set CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Target Price at $30.58

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have earned an average rating of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $31.27.

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on CNP. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $31.94 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.41. 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 firm has a market cap of $20.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.96. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $33.00.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.63%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 19,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after buying an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,780,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. 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.