CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Given New $31.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its target price dropped by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $32.00 to $31.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price indicates a potential upside of 10.99% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $30.00 to $29.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp reduced their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, July 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.50.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock traded down $0.58 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $27.93. 1,782,473 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,737,624. The company has a market cap of $17.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $30.01 and its 200 day moving average is $28.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 1.06. CenterPoint Energy has a 12-month low of $25.42 and a 12-month high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 11.03%. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $623,792.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNP. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth $25,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the period. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% during the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.