Aspire Private Capital LLC Purchases 1,940 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Aspire Private Capital LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,285 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,940 shares during the period. Aspire Private Capital LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $771,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 80,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,557,000 after buying an additional 2,283 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,314,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,427,000 after buying an additional 569,389 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $569,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 57.1% in the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 34,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,563 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,116,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,619,000 after purchasing an additional 160,154 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Finally, Argus raised shares of CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of CNP stock opened at $35.73 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $39.31. The stock has a market cap of $23.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $37.23 and a 200-day moving average of $34.75.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.80% and a return on equity of 9.74%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.06%.

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.