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

Focus Partners Wealth bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 8,562 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $272,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CNP. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 58.9% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.4%

CenterPoint Energy stock traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,318,080 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,113,279. The company has a market cap of $24.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.14. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $39.31.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released 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). The business had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is 59.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CNP shares. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Argus upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $42.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays raised CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.04.

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.