Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its target price lifted by Morgan Stanley from $32.00 to $34.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price would indicate a potential downside of 4.93% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on CNP. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.77.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock opened at $35.77 on Thursday. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $36.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $33.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $31.42. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,446,036,000 after purchasing an additional 27,799,744 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $164,350,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $158,232,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $108,153,000 after buying an additional 3,185,932 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $97,348,000. 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.