Prospera Private Wealth LLC Makes New $143,000 Investment in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 4,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $143,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.4% in the first quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 16,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 833 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 66.8% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 22,274 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 8,917 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter valued at $263,000. Natixis boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1,092.1% during the first quarter. Natixis now owns 33,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $951,000 after buying an additional 30,567 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $31.74 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.02, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The business’s 50 day moving average is $29.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.15. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $31.81.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on CNP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.09.

CenterPoint Energy 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.