CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Sees Significant Decrease in Short Interest

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) saw a significant decrease in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 18,190,000 shares, a decrease of 6.0% from the October 15th total of 19,350,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 6,010,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.0 days.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $30.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a PE ratio of 20.44, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $31.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $29.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.09.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.63%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CNP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,070,000 after acquiring an additional 2,961,464 shares in the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484,079 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 566.5% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,744,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,482,966 shares during the period. Finally, Maple Brown Abbott Ltd purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $42,548,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CNP. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.09.

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.