Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Purchases 40,637 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 295.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 54,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 40,637 shares during the period. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,999,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.8% in the 1st quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 714,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,894,000 after acquiring an additional 19,561 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 27.2% in the 1st quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 6,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 1,289 shares in the last quarter. Xponance Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 93,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,378,000 after purchasing an additional 1,597 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 20,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $758,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $240,746.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 65,577 shares in the company, valued at $2,546,354.91. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.0%

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $39.37 on Monday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.21 and a 52-week high of $40.50. The company has a market cap of $25.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.84.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. Analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Mizuho set a $42.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.50.

CenterPoint Energy 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.