Central Puerto (NYSE:CEPU) Releases Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.64 EPS

Central Puerto (NYSE:CEPU) released its earnings results on Tuesday. The company reported $0.90 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.26 by $0.64, Zacks reports. Central Puerto had a return on equity of 15.69% and a net margin of 37.86%.The company had revenue of $248.52 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $243.37 million.

Central Puerto Price Performance

Shares of CEPU stock traded down $0.05 on Thursday, reaching $14.13. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 93,239 shares, compared to its average volume of 355,762. The company has a quick ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 1.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.13. Central Puerto has a 12-month low of $7.43 and a 12-month high of $18.50. The company has a market capitalization of $2.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.77 and a beta of 0.83. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $15.32 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.69.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Central Puerto

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Central Puerto by 13.6% in the second quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 20,531 shares of the company’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 2,460 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC raised its position in shares of Central Puerto by 6.9% in the second quarter. Jane Street Group LLC now owns 53,073 shares of the company’s stock worth $620,000 after buying an additional 3,424 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Central Puerto by 17.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 35,669 shares of the company’s stock worth $624,000 after buying an additional 5,317 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its position in shares of Central Puerto by 99.7% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 15,039 shares of the company’s stock worth $263,000 after buying an additional 7,510 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of Central Puerto in the fourth quarter worth $174,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 2.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CEPU has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen downgraded Central Puerto from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Central Puerto in a research note on Friday, March 27th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $17.50.

About Central Puerto

Central Puerto SA (NYSE: CEPU) is Argentina’s leading private power generation company, managing a diversified portfolio of thermal and renewable energy facilities across the country. Established following the privatization of the state-owned electricity company in the early 1990s, Central Puerto develops, operates and maintains a mix of combined-cycle and open-cycle gas turbine plants, as well as hydroelectric and renewable installations. The company’s thermal assets provide baseload and flexible generation capacity, while its renewable portfolio includes wind farms and solar parks that support Argentina’s clean energy objectives.

Headquartered in Buenos Aires, Central Puerto serves the national wholesale electricity market through long-term contracts with distribution companies and major industrial clients.