Tectonic Advisors LLC Invests $221,000 in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Tectonic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 7,751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $94,750,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 96.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,958,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,666,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,640 shares during the period. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 391.0% in the fourth quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,314,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,333 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,030,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578,948 shares during the period. Finally, Stack Financial Management Inc purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $21,154,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 21,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $623,792.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock traded down $1.72 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $28.58. 2,351,955 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,577,485. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.42 and a 1-year high of $31.57. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The business has a fifty day moving average of $30.24 and a 200 day moving average of $28.88. The company has a market capitalization of $18.28 billion, a PE ratio of 21.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 56.34%.

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.