Cetera Investment Advisers Increases Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 10.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 101,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,585 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $3,687,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 8.6% in the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 80,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,907,000 after acquiring an additional 6,377 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 8.8% in the first quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $721,000 after purchasing an additional 1,615 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 3.1% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 864,175 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,309,000 after purchasing an additional 26,153 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 32.6% in the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,314,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,427,000 after purchasing an additional 569,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.6% in the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 166,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 8,914 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock opened at $39.17 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $36.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $35.90. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $39.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.39, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.15). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 9.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on CNP. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Mizuho set a $39.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $37.38.

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.