CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target Cut to $31.00 by Analysts at BMO Capital Markets

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price target lowered by BMO Capital Markets from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research note published on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Saturday, July 20th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $29.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $29.90.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $27.07 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $29.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.38 billion, a PE ratio of 19.06, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.42 and a fifty-two week high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion during 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $601,000. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $215,000. Arizona State Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 173,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,956,000 after buying an additional 1,317 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 270,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,717,000 after acquiring an additional 14,036 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.