CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Given Average Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from analysts, with nine hold ratings and five buy ratings among the fourteen firms covering the company.
• Recent earnings results revealed that CenterPoint Energy reported $0.29 EPS, falling short of the consensus estimate of $0.44 and generating revenue of $1.94 billion, which also missed expectations.
• The firm announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, representing an annualized yield of 2.3%, with the ex-dividend date on August 21st.

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) have received a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $37.3750.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CNP shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $39.00 target price on CenterPoint Energy and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock traded down $0.39 during trading on Friday, reaching $38.05. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,993,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,830,248. The business's 50-day moving average price is $37.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.26. The firm has a market cap of $24.84 billion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.58. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.65 and a 52 week high of $39.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.15). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.16% and a net margin of 10.42%. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Curat Global LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. 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.