Schechter Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Schechter Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 17,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 878 shares during the quarter. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $546,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,780,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 40,054 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,178,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 2.5 %

NYSE CNP opened at $33.71 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.20, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $34.85. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $32.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.75.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CNP. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. Barclays raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.65.

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.