CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) to Issue Dividend Increase – $0.21 Per Share

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, September 25th,Zacks Dividends reports. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of 0.21 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, December 12th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20.

CenterPoint Energy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 1.3% annually over the last three years. CenterPoint Energy has a payout ratio of 48.3% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect CenterPoint Energy to earn $1.74 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.84 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 48.3%.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock opened at $31.15 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $29.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.10. The company has a market capitalization of $20.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.09.

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.