CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target Raised to $39.00 at Barclays

Key Points

• Barclays raised its price target on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00, indicating a potential upside of 2.70% from the stock's previous close.
• CenterPoint Energy's stock recently traded up 1.8%, reaching $37.98, with a one-year range between $25.41 and $39.31.
• The company reported an EPS of $0.29 for the last quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44, along with revenues of $1.94 billion against an estimate of $2.20 billion.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) had its price objective boosted by Barclays from $38.00 to $39.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider's stock.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on CNP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Argus raised CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.38.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.1%

CNP stock traded down $0.04 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.78. 542,866 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,346,677. CenterPoint Energy has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $39.31. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.76. The company has a market capitalization of $25.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.79.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.15). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 9.16%. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,449,927 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,774,941,000 after purchasing an additional 334,631 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,061,059 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,900,612,000 after purchasing an additional 671,868 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,480,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,169 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,446,036,000 after purchasing an additional 27,799,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,490,728 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $490,205,000 after purchasing an additional 406,832 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.