CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target Raised to $39.00

by · The Markets Daily

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Free Report) had its target price upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $38.00 to $39.00 in a report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has a neutral rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on CNP. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.04.

Get Our Latest Research Report on CNP

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $37.23 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $36.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $33.91. CenterPoint Energy has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $39.31. The company has a market cap of $24.30 billion, a PE ratio of 23.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.36%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.06%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,449,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,941,000 after purchasing an additional 334,631 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,061,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,900,612,000 after purchasing an additional 671,868 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,480,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,169 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,446,036,000 after purchasing an additional 27,799,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,490,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $490,205,000 after purchasing an additional 406,832 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

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.

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