Simplicity Solutions LLC Boosts Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Simplicity Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 12.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 18,498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,998 shares during the quarter. Simplicity Solutions LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $528,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CNP. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter valued at $440,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 59.0% during the first quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 14,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 5,475 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 28.5% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,585,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,208,000 after purchasing an additional 572,884 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 9.0% during the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 32,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $988,000 after purchasing an additional 2,642 shares during the period. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 59.3% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 738,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $22,615,000 after purchasing an additional 274,696 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price target (down previously from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Guggenheim cut their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $29.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.30.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $27.95 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $27.89 and a 200 day moving average of $27.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.42 and a 12 month high of $31.43. The firm has a market cap of $17.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 10.55%. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.