CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Raised to “Outperform” at Evercore ISI

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was upgraded by Evercore ISI from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Briefing.com Automated Import reports. The firm presently has a $37.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $36.00. Evercore ISI’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 7.65% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on CNP. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price for the company. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.14.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $34.37 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $35.02. The firm has a market cap of $22.40 billion, a PE ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $32.77 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.96.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of CNP. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.