CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Downgraded by BMO Capital Markets to Market Perform

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was downgraded by BMO Capital Markets from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note issued on Friday, Briefing.com reports. They currently have a $28.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $31.00. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would indicate a potential downside of 0.53% from the company’s current price.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $29.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank cut their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.90.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $28.15 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.42 and a fifty-two week high of $31.57. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $29.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $28.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.07 billion, a PE ratio of 19.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.92.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $25,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.