Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA Buys 1,489 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 253,602 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,489 shares during the period. CenterPoint Energy makes up about 1.1% of Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $8,047,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Mather Group LLC. grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 15.7% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 9,690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,312 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 1,143,997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,190,000 after buying an additional 45,710 shares during the last quarter. Greenleaf Trust lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 23,351 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $741,000 after buying an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $265,000. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $306,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.46.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.0 %

NYSE:CNP opened at $32.19 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $33.12. The company has a market cap of $20.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.63%.

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.