CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Reaches New 1-Year High After Analyst Upgrade

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) shares hit a new 52-week high on Monday after BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on the stock from $35.00 to $36.00. BMO Capital Markets currently has a market perform rating on the stock. CenterPoint Energy traded as high as $35.79 and last traded at $35.78, with a volume of 312892 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $35.48.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CNP. Guggenheim cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI raised CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.50.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

The company’s fifty day moving average is $33.03 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.18. 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 has a market cap of $23.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.46%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.35%.

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.