Inspire Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Inspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 6.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 23,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,496 shares during the quarter. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $733,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,104,000 after purchasing an additional 42,578 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth about $908,000. ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter valued at about $2,564,000. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares during the period. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $265,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price on the stock. Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.77.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $34.55 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $32.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The stock has a market cap of $22.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $35.01.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. On average, analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.35%.

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.