Scotiabank Upgrades CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) to Sector Outperform

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was upgraded by Scotiabank from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $35.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $30.00. Scotiabank’s target price would indicate a potential upside of 9.68% from the company’s previous close.

CNP has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Finally, UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.27.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE CNP traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $31.91. 639,744 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,255,209. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.37. The stock has a market cap of $20.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.96. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $33.00.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. On average, analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 185.7% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 235,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,287,000 after buying an additional 152,878 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 78,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,442,000 after acquiring an additional 12,422 shares in the last quarter. ING Groep NV bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,564,000. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth about $908,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 13.4% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,052,237 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,630,000 after purchasing an additional 124,529 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by 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.