Lake Street Advisors Group LLC Makes New $211,000 Investment in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Lake Street Advisors Group LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price on the stock. Barclays upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP stock opened at $34.38 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.41 billion, a PE ratio of 21.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $34.49. 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $32.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.56.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. As a group, research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.56%. This is a boost 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.