CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was downgraded by Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on CNP. Evercore ISI began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho set a $42.00 target price on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. KeyCorp upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $36.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.64.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP opened at $38.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.51, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. CenterPoint Energy has a 12-month low of $30.59 and a 12-month high of $40.50. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.24.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at CenterPoint Energy

In related news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 65,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,546,354.91. This trade represents a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,129,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,381,069,000 after acquiring an additional 833,374 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,661,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,168,459,000 after purchasing an additional 298,892 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 4.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,710,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $611,377,000 after buying an additional 652,202 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at $313,456,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 31.6% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,859,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,765,000 after buying an additional 1,886,374 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE: CNP) is a Houston-based regulated utility company that provides electric and natural gas delivery services and related infrastructure operations. The company’s principal activities center on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the greater Houston metropolitan area and the distribution of natural gas to customers across several states in the Midwest and South. As a vertically integrated utility, CenterPoint focuses on the reliable delivery of energy through owned and operated networks of lines, pipelines and associated facilities.

CenterPoint’s core businesses include regulated electric transmission and distribution services, regulated natural gas distribution, and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure.