Greenleaf Trust Raises Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Greenleaf Trust increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 23,351 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 669 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth $52,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.46.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.1 %

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $32.15 on Wednesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $33.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $20.96 billion, a PE ratio of 21.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $32.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.87.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.63%.

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.