Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Stock Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 21.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 9,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,590 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CNP. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $97,348,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 566.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,744,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,482,966 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 98.1% during the 3rd quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,536,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,208,000 after purchasing an additional 760,956 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,231,000 after purchasing an additional 370,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 135.0% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 586,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,255,000 after purchasing an additional 336,984 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $34.58 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $35.05. The business has a 50 day moving average of $32.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.04. The company has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a PE ratio of 21.75, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting 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 the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started 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. Finally, Scotiabank raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $32.77.

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.