Duality Advisers LP Purchases 187,662 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Duality Advisers LP increased its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 837.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 210,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 187,662 shares during the period. CenterPoint Energy makes up 0.6% of Duality Advisers LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Duality Advisers LP’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $5,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CNP. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Tobam bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $35,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Central Pacific Bank Trust Division bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $45,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at $623,792.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of NYSE CNP traded up $0.74 on Friday, reaching $30.42. 4,663,958 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,570,447. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.42 and a 12 month high of $31.57. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $28.87. The company has a market cap of $19.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.92. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. 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 56.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.