Metis Global Partners LLC Acquires 1,300 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 21,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,300 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $693,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. US Bancorp DE increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 67,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,135,000 after acquiring an additional 6,782 shares in the last quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Dynasty Wealth Management LLC now owns 34,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,108,000 after acquiring an additional 6,219 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 18,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,670 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $2,381,000. Finally, New York Life Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC now owns 87,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,764,000 after purchasing an additional 681 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price for the company. Scotiabank raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective 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. Barclays increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP opened at $33.71 on Wednesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $34.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $21.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $32.63 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.75.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

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.