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

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

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. KeyCorp downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.36.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock traded down $0.11 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $28.21. 4,563,152 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,272,875. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.20. CenterPoint Energy has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $31.57. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $27.56 and its 200 day moving average is $28.68. The stock has a market cap of $18.05 billion, a PE ratio of 19.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 185.7% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 235,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,287,000 after buying an additional 152,878 shares during the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $1,625,000. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 305,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,735,000 after purchasing an additional 60,223 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 837.7% during the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 210,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,985,000 after purchasing an additional 187,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $1,109,000. 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.