CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP Shares Acquired by Level Four Advisory Services LLC

Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 28.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,285 shares during the quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $381,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $92,025,000. GQG Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter valued at $78,632,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 31.6% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,859,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886,374 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2,845.6% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,938,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872,429 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 50.2% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,118,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $185,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709,682 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CNP shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $42.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.50.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $39.12 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.59 and a 52 week high of $40.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $39.34 and its two-hundred day moving average is $38.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. Research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.70%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the sale, the director owned 65,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,546,354.91. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.