CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Key Points

• CenterPoint Energy reported a quarterly earnings per share (EPS) of $0.50, exceeding the consensus estimate of $0.46, while total revenue was $1.99 billion, falling short of expectations of $2.04 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, with an annualized dividend of $0.88 and a yield of 2.2%, set to be paid on December 11th.
• Hedge funds and institutional investors own 91.77% of CenterPoint Energy's stock, with significant interest in the company noted during the second quarter.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04, Zacks reports. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 9.16%. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP traded down $0.35 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $39.71. The company had a trading volume of 2,941,559 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,227,646. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $28.57 and a 1 year high of $40.50. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $38.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock has a market cap of $25.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.57.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MUFG Securities EMEA plc acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at about $71,000. LMR Partners LLP acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $205,000. Cresset Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on CNP shares. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho set a $42.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $40.95.

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.

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