CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Research Coverage Started at Bank of America

Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a neutral rating and a $29.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on CNP. 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. Scotiabank cut their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp lowered CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to a sector weight rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price target for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Sunday, August 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $29.36.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.2 %

CNP stock opened at $27.93 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $31.57. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.63 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.66.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 56.34%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNP. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% in the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 18,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 19,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.5% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 13,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $377,000 after buying an additional 447 shares during the period. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% in the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the period. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the second quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 19,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

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.