Ieq Capital LLC Has $554,000 Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Ieq Capital LLC decreased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 37.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 10,289 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $554,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $68,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price for the company. Barclays increased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Two investment 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 MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.6 %

CNP stock opened at $34.00 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a PE ratio of 21.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.48. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $34.49. 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 (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

CenterPoint Energy 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.