CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Downgraded to Neutral at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) from an overweight rating to a neutral rating in a research note published on Friday morning, MarketBeat reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $29.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their prior price target of $32.00.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on CNP. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an overweight rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut CenterPoint Energy from an overweight rating to an equal weight rating and dropped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. StockNews.com raised CenterPoint Energy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $29.90.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $26.03. 3,852,703 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,965,505. The firm has a market capitalization of $16.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $25.42 and a 1-year high of $31.57. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $29.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 1.06.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the period. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% during the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

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.