Inspire Advisors LLC Acquires 1,496 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Inspire Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying 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.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,930,000 after purchasing an additional 56,037 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 77.6% during the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 22,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $648,000 after acquiring an additional 9,619 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 219,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,469,000 after acquiring an additional 33,516 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $756,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $34.55 on Wednesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $22.51 billion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $32.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.02. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $35.01.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on CNP. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. 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 research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.77.

About CenterPoint Energy

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.