Private Trust Co. NA Raises Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Private Trust Co. NA lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 99.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,637 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $121,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of CNP. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $212,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 8.2% during the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 10,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $387,000 after buying an additional 802 shares during the period. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 31.3% during the second quarter. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC now owns 10,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $369,000 after buying an additional 2,396 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,308,000. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 49.6% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $357,000 after acquiring an additional 3,226 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on CNP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.95.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $40.07 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.79. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $28.57 and a one year high of $40.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $26.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.02, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s fifty day moving average is $38.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.61.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 9.16%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. Analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

CenterPoint Energy Company 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.