CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

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

Several other research firms also recently commented on CNP. KeyCorp downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $28.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.55.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $29.10 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $31.57. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $27.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.69. The firm has a market cap of $18.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.92.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. 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.