BankPlus Trust Department Purchases Shares of 1,265 CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 1,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $40,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CNP. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 56.8% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 20,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $612,000 after acquiring an additional 7,538 shares during the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 36,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,080,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 33.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 41,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 10,346 shares during the last quarter. Forsta AP Fonden increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 79.1% in the 3rd quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 106,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,119,000 after acquiring an additional 46,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $34.19 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $22.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $34.44. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $32.43 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.46.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.57%. 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 Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Company 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.