CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report released on Friday.

Several other research analysts have also commented on CNP. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $33.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, March 6th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.75.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE CNP opened at $28.26 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.03 and a 52 week high of $33.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 1.00 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.65. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $29.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $29.71. The firm has a market cap of $17.83 billion, a PE ratio of 22.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.88.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.48 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.97% and a net margin of 8.99%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.79 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,000 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.51, for a total value of $152,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,998.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,000 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $30.51, for a total value of $152,550.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,075 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $642,998.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ted Pound sold 2,770 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.50, for a total value of $84,485.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 46,541 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,419,500.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Securian Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.6% during the first quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 52,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,533,000 after buying an additional 333 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.3% during the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 11,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $325,000 after buying an additional 349 shares in the last quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 44.9% during the first quarter. Bogart Wealth LLC now owns 1,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% during the first quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 29,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $865,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Texas Permanent School Fund grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Texas Permanent School Fund now owns 89,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,682,000 after buying an additional 374 shares in the last quarter. 90.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

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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.