Scotiabank Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) Stock

Key Points

• Scotiabank has increased its price target for CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) from $42.00 to $45.00, indicating a potential upside of 13.77% from the current stock price.
• CenterPoint Energy recently reported earnings of $0.50 per share, surpassing analysts' expectations of $0.46, despite revenue falling short of predictions.
• Five equities research analysts have given CenterPoint Energy a Buy rating, while eight analysts have issued a Hold rating, reflecting a consensus rating of "Hold" with an average target price of $41.25.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) had its price objective increased by investment analysts at Scotiabank from $42.00 to $45.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a "sector outperform" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Scotiabank's target price would indicate a potential upside of 13.77% from the stock's current price.

CNP has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Wall Street Zen cut CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Barclays upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $41.25.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock traded down $0.05 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.56. 5,426,829 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,248,504. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.82 billion, a PE ratio of 27.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.61. CenterPoint Energy has a 12-month low of $28.57 and a 12-month high of $40.50. The business's 50-day moving average is $38.51 and its 200-day moving average is $37.64.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.16% and a net margin of 10.42%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 13,050 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $506,000 after purchasing an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.9% during the second quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,627 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 21.5% during the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,653 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 17.8% during the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 2,014 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $73,000 after buying an additional 304 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 9.0% during the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,745 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $145,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

About CenterPoint Energy

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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