CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at Guggenheim

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was downgraded by equities researchers at Guggenheim from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Thursday,Finviz reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.27.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $32.41 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $33.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $31.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.66.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 116,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,706,000 after purchasing an additional 10,800 shares in the last quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,477 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 54,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,721,000 after purchasing an additional 6,839 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 25.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 6,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 1,350 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,314 shares in the last quarter. 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.