Colonial Trust Co SC Boosts Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 9.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 4,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $146,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 58.9% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 13,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the period. Finally, Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $309,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on CNP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Argus raised shares of CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays raised CenterPoint Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $35.79.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 2.8 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $37.96 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $39.31. The company has a market capitalization of $24.78 billion, a PE ratio of 23.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.44 and a 200-day moving average of $33.43.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.32%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.06%.

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.