CenterPoint Energy Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:CNP)

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) was the target of some unusual options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 3,664 call options on the company. This is an increase of 837% compared to the typical volume of 391 call options.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on CNP. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and increased their price target for the company from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.30.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 176.7% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 137.5% in the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares in the last quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE:CNP opened at $27.21 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $27.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $27.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $25.42 and a 1-year high of $31.43. The firm has a market cap of $17.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. The business had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.55% and a return on equity of 10.44%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

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.