CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target Raised to $34.00

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its target price boosted by Morgan Stanley from $32.00 to $34.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

CNP has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.77.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE:CNP opened at $35.77 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $23.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $33.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.45. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $36.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. As a group, analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,104,000 after acquiring an additional 42,578 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $908,000. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $265,000. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 34,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 12,563 shares during the period. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $705,000. 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.