KeyCorp Increases CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target to $33.00

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price objective raised by KeyCorp from $31.00 to $33.00 in a research report released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on CNP. Mizuho restated a neutral rating and issued a $29.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. StockNews.com raised CenterPoint Energy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an outperform rating to an in-line rating and upped their price target for the company from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $30.36.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $29.37 on Monday. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.42 and a 52 week high of $31.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market cap of $18.79 billion, a PE ratio of 20.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $28.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.31.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 56.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $623,792.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CNP. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2.3% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 15,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 52,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,413,000 after acquiring an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 18,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 40,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after acquiring an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 10,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $282,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.