CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, three have assigned a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $30.80.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CNP. KeyCorp lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. StockNews.com downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. Barclays lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd.

Insider Transactions at CenterPoint Energy

In related news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total value of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at $623,792.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $94,750,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $302,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961,464 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 96.0% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,958,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,666,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,640 shares in the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 391.0% during the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,314,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,030,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $229,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578,948 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP opened at $31.28 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.66 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.71. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.42 and a 1 year high of $31.43. The company has a market capitalization of $20.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 11.03%. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. Equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.34%.

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.