StockNews.com Lowers CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) to Sell

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued on Thursday.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Bank of America began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.91.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of CNP stock opened at $30.11 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $19.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $31.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $28.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.89.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 10.81%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. Analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CNP. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,990,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $114,001,000 after acquiring an additional 723,663 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 16.3% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 105,256 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,007,000 after acquiring an additional 14,761 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $230,000. CWM LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 4.5% during the first quarter. CWM LLC now owns 10,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 464 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 15.9% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,062 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.