Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Raises Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 252,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,944 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $8,018,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Assetmark Inc. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $40,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of CNP stock opened at $33.39 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $34.85. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $32.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.77.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. Equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.35%.

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.