Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC Acquires 1,400 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 17.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $283,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.00.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.2 %

CNP stock opened at $32.54 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.21 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $32.65. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $29.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.18. 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 (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.58%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.63%.

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.