NewEdge Advisors LLC Buys 4,387 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 8.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 55,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,387 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,764,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 80,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,557,000 after buying an additional 2,283 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,104,000 after acquiring an additional 42,578 shares in the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $265,000. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 57.1% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 34,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,930,000 after purchasing an additional 56,037 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on CNP shares. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $35.04.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock opened at $37.21 on Wednesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $37.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.37 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.73. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. Analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.35%.

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.