Heartland Bank & Trust Co Sells 370 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co trimmed its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 10,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 370 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $330,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 21,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $693,000 after purchasing an additional 1,477 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 54,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,000 after buying an additional 6,839 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 6,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $193,000 after buying an additional 1,350 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $386,000 after buying an additional 1,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, RFG Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $437,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target for the company. UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.38.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $32.37 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $31.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $33.12.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 55.63%.

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.