Morgan Stanley Lowers CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Price Target to $30.00

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) had its price target reduced by Morgan Stanley from $31.00 to $30.00 in a report published on Monday, Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. KeyCorp upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Monday, May 20th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Friday, June 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $31.00.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $30.50 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market cap of $19.51 billion, a PE ratio of 21.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.76. CenterPoint Energy has a 12 month low of $25.42 and a 12 month high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.62%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 56.34%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $623,792.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $94,750,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $302,070,000 after buying an additional 2,961,464 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 96.0% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,958,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,666,000 after acquiring an additional 2,428,640 shares during the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 391.0% in the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,314,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,134,000 after acquiring an additional 1,843,333 shares during the period. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,030,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,948 shares during 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.