Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Purchases 7,895 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Key Points

• Avantax Advisory Services Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 47.1%, acquiring an additional 7,895 shares, and now holds a total of 24,663 shares valued at approximately $894,000.
• CenterPoint Energy's earnings report revealed an EPS of $0.29, missing expectations of $0.44, with revenues falling short at $1.94 billion compared to the projected $2.20 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, representing a 2.3% yield, to be paid on September 11th.

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 47.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,663 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 7,895 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 21.5% during the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,653 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 293 shares during the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 2,014 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 13,718 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 4,601 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,167 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Mizuho set a $39.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.38.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:CNP traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $38.81. The stock had a trading volume of 5,174,845 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,972,921. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm's 50 day moving average is $36.74 and its 200-day moving average is $35.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.58. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $39.31.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.15). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.16% and a net margin of 10.42%. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. Research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is 61.54%.

About CenterPoint Energy

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.