CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Hits New 12-Month High – What’s Next?

Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $33.09 and last traded at $33.09, with a volume of 2750413 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $32.56.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CNP. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.27.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.6 %

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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $31.78 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.63. The company has a market cap of $21.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter valued at $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.