CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at Guggenheim

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was downgraded by stock analysts at Guggenheim from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Finviz reports.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on CNP. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.27.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $32.41 on Thursday. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $33.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.95. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.66.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,231,000 after acquiring an additional 370,790 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.2% during the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,009,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $147,387,000 after purchasing an additional 247,944 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,956,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $116,398,000 after purchasing an additional 110,905 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,177,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,478,000 after purchasing an additional 65,139 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 8.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,611,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,914,000 after purchasing an additional 200,693 shares during the period. 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.