CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target Raised to $36.00

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price target boosted by research analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “market perform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective would indicate a potential upside of 0.65% from the company’s current price.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.50.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE CNP traded up $0.29 on Monday, hitting $35.77. 1,211,386 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,175,407. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $35.81. The company has a market cap of $23.35 billion, a PE ratio of 22.48, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $33.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.18.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,449,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,941,000 after purchasing an additional 334,631 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,480,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,169 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,446,036,000 after acquiring an additional 27,799,744 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,490,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $490,205,000 after acquiring an additional 406,832 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,880,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $186,573,000 after acquiring an additional 431,260 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.