4,851 Shares in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Bought by Prospera Private Wealth LLC

Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $143,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter valued at $705,000. Quest Partners LLC lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3,469,900.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 34,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,021,000 after purchasing an additional 34,699 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after buying an additional 24,400 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 8.3% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 809 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.5% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 18,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $541,000 after buying an additional 628 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on CNP. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.09.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $31.74 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $31.81. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.15. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock has a market cap of $20.68 billion, a PE ratio of 21.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 52.98%.

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.