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

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

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. KeyCorp lowered CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to a sector weight rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and lowered their price target for the company from $32.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated a market perform rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $29.36.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of CNP opened at $28.17 on Wednesday. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $31.57. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company has a market capitalization of $18.02 billion, a PE ratio of 19.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.92.

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

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.34%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% during 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 during the first quarter worth about $35,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.