CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target Raised to $30.00 at Barclays

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price target raised by stock analysts at Barclays from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “underweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Barclays‘s target price suggests a potential downside of 7.57% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on CNP. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.46.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $32.46 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.46, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $31.95 and a 200 day moving average of $29.70. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $33.12. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 482 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.