Merit Financial Group LLC Buys 1,079 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 13,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,079 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $415,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,780,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $604,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% during the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 40,054 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,178,000 after buying an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $32.46 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $31.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.68. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $33.12.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 55.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a 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. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.38.

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.