Duality Advisers LP Has $5.99 Million Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Duality Advisers LP boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 837.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 210,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 187,662 shares during the period. CenterPoint Energy accounts for 0.6% of Duality Advisers LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Duality Advisers LP’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $5,985,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% during the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. Tobam bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $45,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on CNP shares. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, June 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at $623,792.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE CNP traded up $0.74 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $30.42. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,663,958 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,570,447. The company has a market capitalization of $19.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.42 and a 1 year high of $31.57. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $30.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 11.03%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.34%.

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.