StockNews.com Upgrades CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) to Hold

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was upgraded by analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Thursday.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.18.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP traded up $0.05 on Thursday, reaching $29.45. 3,650,927 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,725,417. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a current ratio of 1.25 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $28.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.84 billion, a PE ratio of 20.74, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $25.42 and a fifty-two week high of $31.43.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 11.03%. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $623,792.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.3% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 15,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $449,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 52,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 18,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after buying an additional 388 shares during the period. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 40,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after buying an additional 406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 4.2% during the third quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 10,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 428 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.