CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was downgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

CNP has been the topic of several other reports. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.90.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $28.97 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.88. CenterPoint Energy has a 12-month low of $25.42 and a 12-month high of $31.57. The firm has a market cap of $18.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.40, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. Analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at CenterPoint Energy

In related news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total value of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $623,792.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $94,750,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,070,000 after buying an additional 2,961,464 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 96.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,958,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,666,000 after buying an additional 2,428,640 shares during the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 391.0% during the 4th quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,314,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,134,000 after buying an additional 1,843,333 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,030,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,948 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.