Zacks Research Issues Positive Forecast for CNP Earnings

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) – Investment analysts at Zacks Research boosted their Q4 2024 earnings estimates for shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report issued on Monday, November 18th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the utilities provider will earn $0.40 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $0.24. The consensus estimate for CenterPoint Energy’s current full-year earnings is $1.62 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for CenterPoint Energy’s Q4 2025 earnings at $0.45 EPS.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.00.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $31.93 on Thursday. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $32.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $29.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.17.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.63%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,070,000 after acquiring an additional 2,961,464 shares in the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $144,570,000 after buying an additional 1,484,079 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 566.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,744,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,330,000 after buying an additional 1,482,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maple Brown Abbott Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $42,548,000. Institutional investors 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.