Crews Bank & Trust Buys Shares of 9,631 CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 9,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $306,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CNP. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake 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 valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake 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 valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the period. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CNP opened at $32.88 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $32.04 and its 200-day moving average is $29.78. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $33.12. 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 company has a market cap of $21.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.77, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on CNP shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.46.

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.