CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Downgraded to Sell Rating by Wall Street Zen

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued on Sunday.

CNP has been the subject of a number of other reports. KeyCorp raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. UBS Group decreased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Scotiabank upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.82.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP stock opened at $38.74 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $38.67 and a 200-day moving average of $38.50. The firm has a market cap of $25.29 billion, a PE ratio of 24.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.59. CenterPoint Energy has a 12-month low of $31.76 and a 12-month high of $40.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 65,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,546,354.91. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CNP. Zacks Investment Management raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Zacks Investment Management now owns 31,142 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,208,000 after purchasing an additional 256 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 13,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $506,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $280,000 after buying an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 9.0% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $145,000 after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 6.7% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 5,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $206,000 after acquiring an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE: CNP) is a Houston-based regulated utility company that provides electric and natural gas delivery services and related infrastructure operations. The company’s principal activities center on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the greater Houston metropolitan area and the distribution of natural gas to customers across several states in the Midwest and South. As a vertically integrated utility, CenterPoint focuses on the reliable delivery of energy through owned and operated networks of lines, pipelines and associated facilities.

CenterPoint’s core businesses include regulated electric transmission and distribution services, regulated natural gas distribution, and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure.