CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

CNP has been the subject of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price target for the company from $32.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. KeyCorp downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to a sector weight rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered CenterPoint Energy from an outperform rating to a market perform rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and decreased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $29.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $29.64.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $25.81 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. The stock has a market cap of $16.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.18, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s fifty day moving average is $28.88 and its 200 day moving average is $28.71. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $31.57.

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

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.34%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CNP. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at $33,000. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth $33,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% in the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.