GAMMA Investing LLC Purchases 3,983 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 53.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,983 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 worth $144,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484,079 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,482,966 shares during the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at $31,188,000. Teilinger Capital Ltd. bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at $26,478,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP grew its holdings 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 valued at $45,208,000 after buying an additional 760,956 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on CNP shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target for the company. Bank of America began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target for the company. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.27.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE:CNP opened at $31.04 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $31.31 and its 200 day moving average is $29.55. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $33.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.23 billion, a PE ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.95. 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 (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 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 given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 58.28%.

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.