CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Raised to Hold at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Wednesday.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $29.90.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $27.07 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $17.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.06. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.42 and a 1 year high of $31.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $29.89 and a 200 day moving average of $28.86.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 business earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth $601,000. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth $215,000. Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 173,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,956,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 270,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,717,000 after purchasing an additional 14,036 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.