CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target Raised to $36.00

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price objective increased by BMO Capital Markets from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research report report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.50.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $35.88 on Monday. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $35.93. The company has a market capitalization of $23.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $33.31 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Atria Investments Inc grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 77.6% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 22,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 9,619 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 15.2% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 7.5% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 10.0% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 94,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,772,000 after purchasing an additional 8,534 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is 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.