HighTower Advisors LLC Boosts Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

HighTower Advisors LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 80,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,283 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,557,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Assetmark Inc. raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings 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 worth $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the period. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.77.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:CNP opened at $35.77 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $36.19. The company has a market cap of $23.34 billion, a PE ratio of 22.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50 day moving average is $33.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.45.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. Analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

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.