CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Given New $34.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price objective boosted by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $32.00 to $34.00 in a research note issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target suggests a potential downside of 5.02% from the stock’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on CNP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price for the company. Barclays increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.77.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CNP stock traded down $0.06 on Thursday, reaching $35.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 421,811 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,171,057. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $33.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $31.33. The company has a market capitalization of $23.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $35.94.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. Analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.