Central Puerto (NYSE:CEPU) Stock Price Up 4.8% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Central Puerto shares rose 4.8% to about $10.81 in Friday mid-day trading, with volume 31% above the average session volume.
• Analyst views are mixed: MarketBeat reports a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and $28 target price, after one firm downgraded the stock to Hold and Bank of America cut its target to $28 while retaining Buy.
• The company reported quarterly EPS of $0.65 and revenue of $523.67 million, above analyst estimates of $223.53 million in revenue. It also recently paid a special dividend of $1.0758 per share.

Central Puerto S.A. Sponsored ADR (NYSE:CEPU - Get Free Report) was up 4.8% during mid-day trading on Friday. The company traded as high as $10.71 and last traded at $10.8050. 403,698 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 31% from the average session volume of 307,890 shares. The stock had previously closed at $10.31.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CEPU has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Central Puerto from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings restated a "hold (c)" rating on shares of Central Puerto in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America lowered their target price on shares of Central Puerto from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $28.00.

Central Puerto Price Performance

The stock's 50 day moving average price is $12.34 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $14.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.22, a current ratio of 1.28 and a quick ratio of 1.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 3.66 and a beta of 0.85.

Central Puerto (NYSE:CEPU - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 11th. The company reported $0.65 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter. The business had revenue of $523.67 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $223.53 million. Central Puerto had a net margin of 22.93% and a return on equity of 15.75%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Central Puerto S.A. Sponsored ADR will post 2.00 EPS for the current year.

Central Puerto Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a special dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 7th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 28th were given a $1.0758 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 28th. Central Puerto's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 30.00%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Central Puerto

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Tidal Investments LLC bought a new stake in Central Puerto during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $159,000. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Central Puerto during the first quarter worth approximately $271,000. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Central Puerto during the first quarter worth approximately $1,349,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in shares of Central Puerto by 285.7% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 132,818 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,235,000 after acquiring an additional 98,380 shares during the period. Finally, Absolute Gestao de Investimentos Ltda. bought a new stake in shares of Central Puerto in the first quarter valued at approximately $4,814,000. 2.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Central Puerto

Central Puerto S.A. is an Argentina-based electric power generation company. It operates power plants that produce electricity for the country's wholesale electricity market, serving utilities, businesses and other users through Argentina's electricity system. The company's generation portfolio includes thermal, hydroelectric and renewable energy assets, including wind and solar facilities. Its thermal plants use fuels such as natural gas, while its renewable operations add electricity from non-fossil sources to the portfolio.

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