Old Port Advisors Has $449,000 Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Old Port Advisors lessened its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 331 shares during the quarter. Old Port Advisors’ holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $449,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,570,000 after buying an additional 1,484,079 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 566.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,744,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,482,966 shares in the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,188,000. Teilinger Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth $26,478,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 98.1% in the third quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,536,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,208,000 after buying an additional 760,956 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:CNP traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $31.61. The company had a trading volume of 525,833 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,856,281. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $33.00. The firm has a market cap of $20.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.96. The business’s fifty day moving average is $31.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.55.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 58.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CNP. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.27.

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.