AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC Purchases New Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 9,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $305,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $36.26 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $33.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.71. The stock has a market cap of $23.66 billion, a PE ratio of 22.80, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $36.40. 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 (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. As a group, analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.77.

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.