Morgan Stanley Issues Pessimistic Forecast for CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock Price

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has reduced its price target for CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $37.00, indicating a potential downside of 3.55% from the company's previous close.
• CenterPoint Energy reported an earnings per share (EPS) of $0.29 for the last quarter, missing consensus estimates by $0.15, and set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.740-1.760 EPS.
• Despite mixed ratings from analysts, 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors, with Vanguard Group notably increasing its stake by 1.6% during the second quarter.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) had its price objective cut by equities research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $38.00 to $37.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an "equal weight" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target would indicate a potential downside of 3.55% from the company's previous close.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on CNP. Mizuho set a $39.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $38.41.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.7%

NYSE:CNP traded down $0.65 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $38.36. 4,081,163 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,200,198. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $38.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. CenterPoint Energy has a fifty-two week low of $28.57 and a fifty-two week high of $39.39. The firm has a market cap of $25.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.83, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.58.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.15). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.16% and a net margin of 10.42%.The business had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.36 earnings per share. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.740-1.760 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,362,433 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,989,256,000 after buying an additional 1,301,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,710,081 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $611,377,000 after buying an additional 652,202 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $313,456,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 31.6% during the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,859,693 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $288,765,000 after buying an additional 1,886,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,934,611 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $215,011,000 after buying an additional 54,596 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.

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