Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC Acquires New Shares in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Wealthcare Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 5,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $201,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 40.9% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 58,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,870,000 after buying an additional 16,852 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 17.8% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 19,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $631,000 after buying an additional 3,009 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,104,000 after buying an additional 42,578 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 71,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,264,000 after buying an additional 1,950 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $36.59 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $39.31. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $34.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.01, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.41%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 59.06%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CNP shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Argus raised CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.04.

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.