CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target Raised to $30.00

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its target price upped by research analysts at Scotiabank from $28.00 to $30.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “sector perform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Scotiabank’s target price indicates a potential upside of 2.53% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CNP. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.09.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $29.26 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $18.72 billion, a PE ratio of 20.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $28.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $28.98. CenterPoint Energy has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 10.81%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. Analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% in the first quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 18,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $541,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 19,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.5% during the first quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 13,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $377,000 after purchasing an additional 447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% in the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.