CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Research Coverage Started at StockNews.com

StockNews.com began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) in a research report report published on Thursday. The brokerage issued a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

CNP has been the topic of several other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, March 6th. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and increased their price target for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research report on Monday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy to $35.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $32.78.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.0 %

CNP stock opened at $29.05 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $29.35 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.63. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.03 and a 52 week high of $33.50. The company has a market cap of $18.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.87.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 17th. The utilities provider reported $0.28 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.29 by ($0.01). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 11.21%. The firm had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CNP. Pinebridge Investments L.P. acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 137.5% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 176.7% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Affiance Financial LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 90.28% of the company’s stock.

About CenterPoint Energy

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CenterPoint Energy, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the business of power generation and distribution. It operates through the following segments: CenterPoint Energy, Houston Electric, and CERC. The CenterPoint Energy segment consists of electric transmission and distribution services in the Texas gulf coast area in the ERCOT region and electric transmission and distribution services primarily to southwestern Indiana and includes power generation and wholesale power operations in the MISO region.