CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Hits New 52-Week High – Should You Buy?

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)’s share price reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $36.19 and last traded at $35.70, with a volume of 8615283 shares. The stock had previously closed at $35.96.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $33.77.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 1.5 %

The firm has a market capitalization of $22.96 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $33.64 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $31.59. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. Analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CNP. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,446,036,000 after buying an additional 27,799,744 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $164,350,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $158,232,000. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $108,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,185,932 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $97,348,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

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.