Assetmark Inc. Acquires 2,161 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 407.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,161 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $99,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of CNP. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.9% in the second quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $280,000 after purchasing an additional 286 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 17.8% during the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 2,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 21,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $778,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 7,582 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 9,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $339,000 after acquiring an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, October 25th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $44.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $240,746.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 65,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,546,354.91. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.0%

CNP stock opened at $39.37 on Monday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $29.21 and a twelve month high of $40.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The company has a market cap of $25.70 billion, a PE ratio of 24.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.84.

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

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

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

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.