Royal Bank Of Canada Upgrades CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) to Hold

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Royal Bank Of Canada to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday, Zacks reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on CNP. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Friday, September 11th. Evercore set a $43.00 target price on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, August 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $39.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $49.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $50.00 price target on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP stock opened at $38.31 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.32. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $37.22 and a 52 week high of $45.26. The stock has a market cap of $25.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.12.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.03. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.61% and a return on equity of 11.10%. The company had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.29 EPS. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.890-1.910 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $49,316,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 20,941,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $802,916,000 after buying an additional 235,346 shares in the last quarter. Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors LP acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $56,492,000. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,834,000. Finally, Stack Financial Management Inc acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,624,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE:CNP) is an energy delivery company headquartered in Houston, Texas. Its primary businesses include electric transmission and distribution and natural gas distribution, with operations focused on delivering energy to residential, commercial and industrial customers rather than producing most of the energy it supplies.

CenterPoint operates electric utility infrastructure in the Houston metropolitan area and in southwestern Indiana. The company also provides natural gas distribution services in Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and Ohio.