Aptus Capital Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 8,146 CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 8,146 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,446,036,000 after acquiring an additional 27,799,744 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $158,232,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $108,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,185,932 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $97,348,000. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,480,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,169 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays raised CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $35.79.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.2%

NYSE CNP traded down $0.43 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $36.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,663,314 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,556,874. 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $36.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.61. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $39.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.79, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. Analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is currently 59.06%.

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.