Analysts Set CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Price Target at $41.64

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six 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 $41.6364.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on CNP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, October 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $44.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, KeyCorp raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th.

Insider Activity at CenterPoint Energy

In related news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 65,577 shares in the company, valued at $2,546,354.91. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $313,456,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 31.6% during the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,859,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $288,765,000 after buying an additional 1,886,374 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2,845.6% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,938,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,222,000 after buying an additional 1,872,429 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 3,842.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,609,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $59,135,000 after buying an additional 1,568,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,362,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,989,256,000 after buying an additional 1,301,374 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE CNP opened at $37.62 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.51. CenterPoint Energy has a one year low of $30.59 and a one year high of $40.50. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.56 billion, a PE ratio of 23.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.56.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.70%.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE: CNP) is a Houston-based regulated utility company that provides electric and natural gas delivery services and related infrastructure operations. The company’s principal activities center on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the greater Houston metropolitan area and the distribution of natural gas to customers across several states in the Midwest and South. As a vertically integrated utility, CenterPoint focuses on the reliable delivery of energy through owned and operated networks of lines, pipelines and associated facilities.

CenterPoint’s core businesses include regulated electric transmission and distribution services, regulated natural gas distribution, and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure.