CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Raised to “Equal Weight” at Barclays

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was upgraded by Barclays from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $37.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 1.43% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Argus upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI raised CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.04.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.8 %

CNP stock opened at $36.48 on Tuesday. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $37.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The company has a market cap of $23.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $35.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $32.70.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The firm 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%. On average, research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Curat Global LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth $25,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew 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 acquiring an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. Finally, VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. 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.