HB Wealth Management LLC Has $657,000 Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

HB Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 20,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 721 shares during the quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $52,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $33.09 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.64. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $33.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.22 dividend. 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. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 58.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.27.

CenterPoint Energy 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.