CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $34.98 and last traded at $34.70, with a volume of 1361720 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $34.26.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Guggenheim cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price for the company. Barclays raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $22.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $32.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. Sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% during 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 buying an additional 27,799,744 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $164,350,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $158,232,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $108,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,185,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $97,348,000. 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.