U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $264,000 in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,291 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $264,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Curat Global LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.3%

CNP traded down $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $36.13. The company had a trading volume of 4,360,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,628,099. The company has a market capitalization of $23.58 billion, a PE ratio of 24.24, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.57. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $39.31. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $36.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 10.80%. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.44%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.