CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 18,200,000 shares, an increase of 9.2% from the November 15th total of 16,670,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 5,290,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.4 days.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at $43,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target for the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.27.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP traded up $0.01 on Tuesday, reaching $32.08. 342,625 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,243,580. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $29.43. The stock has a market cap of $20.91 billion, a PE ratio of 21.24, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.96. CenterPoint Energy has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $33.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.63%.

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.