Stock Traders Buy Large Volume of Call Options on CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP)

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) was the recipient of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock investors acquired 3,664 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 837% compared to the typical volume of 391 call options.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CNP opened at $27.21 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The firm has a market cap of $17.22 billion, a PE ratio of 20.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.92. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $25.42 and a 1-year high of $31.43.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.32. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 10.55%. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Advisor Partners II LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 29,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $865,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares during the period. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.7% during the third quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 52,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the period. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 8,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $235,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 40,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,166,000 after buying an additional 406 shares during the period. Finally, Wetherby Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $327,000 after buying an additional 412 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on CNP shares. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Evercore ISI lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price target (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Two equities 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.30.

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.