CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Receives $33.50 Average PT from Brokerages

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $33.77.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $35.93 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $23.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day moving average is $33.40 and its 200 day moving average is $31.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $35.99.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 58.9% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 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.