KeyCorp Boosts CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target to $33.00

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price objective hoisted by KeyCorp from $31.00 to $33.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Evercore ISI downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an outperform rating to an in-line rating and increased their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho reissued a neutral rating and set a $29.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $30.36.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock opened at $29.37 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market capitalization of $18.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.68, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.31. CenterPoint Energy has a twelve month low of $25.42 and a twelve month high of $31.43.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at $623,792.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 7.7% in the third quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 125,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,360,000 after acquiring an additional 8,929 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 13.7% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 17,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $479,000 after purchasing an additional 2,144 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth about $862,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 796,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,373,000 after buying an additional 34,835 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 13.3% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $473,000 after buying an additional 2,072 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.