Focus Partners Wealth Invests $272,000 in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 8,562 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Colonial Trust Co SC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 9.2% in the fourth 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. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,167 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $164,000 after buying an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 58.9% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,907 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $378,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 13,909 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $441,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CNP shares. Barclays upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP traded down $0.44 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $37.29. The stock had a trading volume of 3,835,325 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,574,828. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $37.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $34.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is 59.06%.

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.