KeyCorp Lowers Earnings Estimates for CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) – Stock analysts at KeyCorp decreased their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report released on Monday, October 21st. KeyCorp analyst S. Karp now anticipates that the utilities provider will earn $1.61 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $1.62. KeyCorp has a “Sector Weight” rating on the stock. The consensus estimate for CenterPoint Energy’s current full-year earnings is $1.62 per share. KeyCorp also issued estimates for CenterPoint Energy’s FY2026 earnings at $1.86 EPS.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 10.81%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS.

CNP has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.91.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $29.31 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company has a market cap of $18.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.64, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $31.57. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $28.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.94.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.15%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $230,000. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 28,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $807,000 after buying an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,531,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,640,000 after purchasing an additional 10,190 shares in the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.5% in the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 13,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leeward Investments LLC MA lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.0% during the first quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 569,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,232,000 after purchasing an additional 21,907 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.