BMO Capital Markets Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price target increased by BMO Capital Markets from $35.00 to $36.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a market perform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

CNP has been the subject of several other reports. Barclays boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI raised CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.50.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $35.88 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The business has a 50 day moving average of $33.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.33. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $35.93. The company has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $2.26 billion during 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 anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 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.