CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Stake Lessened by U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC reduced its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 13.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,520 shares during the period. U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 302.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 159,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,565,000 after buying an additional 120,085 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,209,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,559,000 after purchasing an additional 256,820 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $399,000. UBS Group AG increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,540,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,361,000 after purchasing an additional 420,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA now owns 416,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,912,000 after buying an additional 102,271 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CNP. Barclays raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price target (down previously from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. StockNews.com raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total value of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at $623,792.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP stock opened at $29.60 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.42 and a 12 month high of $31.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $28.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.11. The company has a market capitalization of $18.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 11.03%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.70%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.34%.

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.