CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Short Interest Down 5.3% in March

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) was the target of a large drop in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,720,000 shares, a drop of 5.3% from the March 15th total of 12,380,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 4,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.8 days.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.7 %

CNP stock opened at $27.70 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $17.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.36, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.58, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $27.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $25.42 and a 52 week high of $31.43.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 10.55%. The business had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Evercore ISI downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $29.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.30.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 137.5% during the 3rd quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the period. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 176.7% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the period. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 117.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 638 shares during the period. Finally, Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. 91.77% of the stock is 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.