BMO Capital Markets Increases CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target to $36.00

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price target lifted by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “market perform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price target suggests a potential upside of 0.96% from the company’s current price.

CNP has been the subject of a number of other reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.50.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $35.66 on Monday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $35.88.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. Equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. 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.