CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Short Interest Update

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) was the target of a significant decline in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 16,670,000 shares, a decline of 8.4% from the October 31st total of 18,190,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 5,680,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.9 days.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CNP traded up $0.15 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $32.14. The company had a trading volume of 3,865,437 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,317,274. The business has a 50 day moving average of $30.21 and a 200-day moving average of $29.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $33.00. The company has a market cap of $20.95 billion, a PE ratio of 21.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.96.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 55.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CNP shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.58.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 38,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,243,000 after acquiring an additional 6,073 shares during the period. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 82.2% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 17,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $529,000 after purchasing an additional 8,110 shares during the last quarter. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,816,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,231,000 after purchasing an additional 370,790 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.