Sanctuary Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 18.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 38,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,073 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,243,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Railway Pension Investments Ltd bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth approximately $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $144,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,484,079 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in 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 valued at $51,330,000 after purchasing an additional 1,482,966 shares during the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $31,188,000. Finally, Teilinger Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth $26,478,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 2.5 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $32.54 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $33.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $21.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a fifty day moving average of $30.86 and a 200 day moving average of $29.48.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CNP. 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.27.

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.