Morgan Stanley Cuts CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target to $31.00

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its target price lowered by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $32.00 to $31.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential downside of 3.91% from the stock’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. KeyCorp lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.00.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $32.26. 1,734,138 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,346,377. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $32.34. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.02 billion, a PE ratio of 21.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth about $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by 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.