Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. Invests $207,000 in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,930,000 after acquiring an additional 56,037 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 77.6% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 22,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $648,000 after acquiring an additional 9,619 shares during the period. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 219,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,469,000 after acquiring an additional 33,516 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $756,000 after acquiring an additional 736 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $34.26 on Monday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $34.85.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. As a group, equities 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.57%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNP has been the topic of several recent research reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.