StockNews.com Downgrades CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) to Sell

by · The Markets Daily

StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Free Report) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Thursday.

CNP has been the subject of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.91.

Read Our Latest Stock Report on CNP

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $30.11 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $19.26 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $31.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.20. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $28.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.89.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 10.81%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 59.15%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% during the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

About CenterPoint Energy

(Get Free Report)

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.

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