Zacks Research Issues Negative Forecast for CNP Earnings

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) - Research analysts at Zacks Research reduced their Q2 2027 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for CenterPoint Energy in a report issued on Tuesday, July 15th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now anticipates that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $0.45 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.46. The consensus estimate for CenterPoint Energy's current full-year earnings is $1.75 per share.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Wall Street Zen cut CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.13.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:CNP traded up $0.77 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $37.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,777,310 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,526,803. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $39.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $24.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.57. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $36.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.35.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.80% and a return on equity of 9.74%. The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,449,927 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,774,941,000 after buying an additional 334,631 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the 1st 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 period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% in the 4th 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 period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% in the 4th 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 period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,490,728 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $490,205,000 after acquiring an additional 406,832 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.06%.

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.