Lbp Am Sa Acquires Shares of 102,636 CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Lbp Am Sa acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 102,636 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,257,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP opened at $35.52 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $35.64. The company has a market cap of $23.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50 day moving average is $33.03 and its 200 day moving average is $31.15.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.77.

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.