JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock Price

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price target lifted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $38.00 to $39.00 in a research report report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

CNP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up previously from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.3%

CNP opened at $37.65 on Monday. 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 $24.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $33.86. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $39.31.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.06%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Merit Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 9.0% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 13,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 1,079 shares in the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $657,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 19,345 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after acquiring an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $254,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

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.