Cerity Partners LLC Raises Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Cerity Partners LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 22.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 100,738 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,445 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,878,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CNP. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $49,000. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. VAUGHAN & Co SECURITIES INC. now owns 15,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $447,000 after purchasing an additional 599 shares in the last quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC now owns 52,571 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,502,000 after purchasing an additional 3,147 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 13.8% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 18,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $536,000 after purchasing an additional 2,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 174,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,993,000 after purchasing an additional 37,380 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE:CNP opened at $27.95 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.42 and a 1 year high of $31.43. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.58.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.32. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 10.55%. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on CNP shares. Barclays increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Evercore ISI lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and increased their price target for the company from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price target (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.30.

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.