Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Purchases New Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 6,523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $97,348,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 566.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,744,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,482,966 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 98.1% during the third quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,536,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,208,000 after acquiring an additional 760,956 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,231,000 after acquiring an additional 370,790 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 135.0% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 586,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,255,000 after acquiring an additional 336,984 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE:CNP opened at $34.26 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $22.33 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $32.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $34.85.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on CNP. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays lifted 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. Scotiabank raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.65.

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.