HighTower Advisors LLC Acquires 2,283 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

HighTower Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,283 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,557,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $97,348,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 566.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,744,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,482,966 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 98.1% during the third quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,536,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,208,000 after acquiring an additional 760,956 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 370,790 shares in the last quarter. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 135.0% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 586,529 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,255,000 after acquiring an additional 336,984 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE CNP opened at $35.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $36.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average of $33.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $31.45.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. On average, analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on CNP shares. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.77.

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.