JPMorgan Chase & Co. Issues Positive Forecast for CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock Price

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price objective raised by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $39.00 to $40.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 10.85% from the stock’s previous close.

CNP has been the subject of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Argus upgraded CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Barclays upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.13.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $36.09 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $36.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $35.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.22, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.57. CenterPoint Energy has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $39.31.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.80% and a return on equity of 9.74%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $254,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,381,000. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 80,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,283 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $223,000. Finally, Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 135,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,288,000 after acquiring an additional 6,322 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.