CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Downgraded to “Sell” at StockNews.com

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was downgraded by equities researchers at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday.

Several other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. KeyCorp downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.91.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $30.11 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $31.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $27.98 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.86.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. Equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $302,070,000 after acquiring an additional 2,961,464 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $144,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,484,079 shares during the last quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,548,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,188,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.