StockNews.com Upgrades CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) to “Hold”

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report issued on Saturday.

Other equities analysts have also issued reports about the company. KeyCorp lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $28.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.73.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CNP opened at $25.79 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $29.06 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.74. The stock has a market cap of $16.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.16, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. CenterPoint Energy has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. The firm 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,754,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,386,168,000 after purchasing an additional 865,120 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 3.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 17,545,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $499,962,000 after purchasing an additional 556,802 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961,464 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% in the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,030,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578,948 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,952,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $170,077,000 after buying an additional 46,232 shares during the last quarter. 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.