CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Coverage Initiated at Jefferies Financial Group

Equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 14.11% from the company’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.46.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $36.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.88. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.15, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $37.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released 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. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Equities analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CNP. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 80,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,557,000 after buying an additional 2,283 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,104,000 after purchasing an additional 42,578 shares during the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $265,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 34,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,563 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,930,000 after purchasing an additional 56,037 shares during the last quarter. 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.