Townsquare Capital LLC Acquires New Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Townsquare Capital LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 8,997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $286,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $36.48 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $37.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $35.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $32.70.

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

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on CNP. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Evercore ISI upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.46.

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.