CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Increases Dividend to $0.22 Per Share

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, December 17th,Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of 0.22 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, March 13th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. 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.

CenterPoint Energy has increased its dividend by an average of 7.6% annually over the last three years. CenterPoint Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 47.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect CenterPoint Energy to earn $1.75 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $0.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 50.3%.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP stock opened at $33.45 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a market capitalization of $21.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95. CenterPoint Energy has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $33.85. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $32.15 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.13.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price for the company. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.46.

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.