CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Posted by Defense World Staff on Sep 15th, 2023

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP – Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten analysts that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have issued a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $32.10.

Several research analysts have commented on CNP shares. Guggenheim lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $33.00 in a report on Friday, July 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $29.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 17th. UBS Group downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $33.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, June 6th. They noted that the move was a valuation call. Finally, StockNews.com assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company.

Read Our Latest Research Report on CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE CNP opened at $28.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. CenterPoint Energy has a twelve month low of $25.03 and a twelve month high of $33.50. The company has a market cap of $18.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.89. The business’s fifty day moving average is $29.01 and its 200 day moving average is $29.16.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.28 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.27 by $0.01. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 8.28%. The company had revenue of $1.88 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.92 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.49 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 17th were given a $0.19 dividend. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 16th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 66.09%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 73,506,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,252,230,000 after buying an additional 1,502,900 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 69,928,791 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,038,160,000 after purchasing an additional 527,231 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 33,531,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $977,431,000 after purchasing an additional 449,120 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 10.7% during the 4th quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 22,564,998 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $676,724,000 after purchasing an additional 2,179,250 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,287,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $386,311,000 after purchasing an additional 316,740 shares in the last quarter. 88.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About CenterPoint Energy

(Get Free Report

CenterPoint Energy, Inc operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through Electric and Natural Gas segments. 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.