Analysts Set CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Target Price at $44.15

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fifteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation, seven have issued a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $44.1538.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CNP shares. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $44.00 to $49.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $48.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. AE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 3.3% during the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 486,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,878,000 after acquiring an additional 15,754 shares during the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 15.4% during the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 7,220,266 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,146,000 after acquiring an additional 962,910 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 14.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 522,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,133,000 after acquiring an additional 65,440 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 23.3% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 171,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,636,000 after acquiring an additional 32,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 31.1% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 350,798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,611,000 after acquiring an additional 83,127 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $43.14 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.16. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $43.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.57. CenterPoint Energy has a 52-week low of $35.46 and a 52-week high of $44.47. The company has a market cap of $28.22 billion, a PE ratio of 26.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.54.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The business had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.890-1.910 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 21st will be given a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 21st. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.44%.

About CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE: CNP) is a Houston-based regulated utility company that provides electric and natural gas delivery services and related infrastructure operations. The company’s principal activities center on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the greater Houston metropolitan area and the distribution of natural gas to customers across several states in the Midwest and South. As a vertically integrated utility, CenterPoint focuses on the reliable delivery of energy through owned and operated networks of lines, pipelines and associated facilities.

CenterPoint’s core businesses include regulated electric transmission and distribution services, regulated natural gas distribution, and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure.