Natixis Advisors LLC Acquires 32,967 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 8.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 419,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 32,967 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.06% of CenterPoint Energy worth $13,324,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LBP AM SA acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $3,257,000. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 135,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,288,000 after purchasing an additional 6,322 shares during the last quarter. Vestcor Inc increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 20,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $664,000 after buying an additional 922 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 13,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $441,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $223,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on CNP. Scotiabank upgraded shares of 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.50.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE CNP opened at $35.88 on Thursday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $35.93. 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 firm has a market cap of $23.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $33.31 and its 200-day moving average is $31.33.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.