Jefferies Financial Group Begins Coverage on CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP)

Equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target points to a potential upside of 14.11% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages have also commented on CNP. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.46.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $36.81 on Wednesday. CenterPoint Energy has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $37.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $33.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.88. The company has a market cap of $24.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.15, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 35,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,136,000 after acquiring an additional 6,084 shares in the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $68,000. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $137,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $10,453,000. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 309,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,807,000 after purchasing an additional 78,969 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.