Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Has $118,000 Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 23.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 709 shares during the quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $118,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 40,054 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,178,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares during the period. Finally, Huntington National Bank increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 15.2% during the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 2.6 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $34.26 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.33 billion, a PE ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $32.68 and its 200 day moving average is $30.79. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $34.85.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. Equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. 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 2.57%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.65.

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.