6,646 Shares in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Bought by Lake Street Advisors Group LLC

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

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,780,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 40,054 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,178,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target for the company. Barclays lifted 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. Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.9 %

NYSE CNP opened at $34.38 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year 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 has a 50-day moving average of $32.56 and a 200-day moving average of $30.56. The firm has a market cap 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 (NYSE:CNP) last announced 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 company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

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.