HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC Takes Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,881,554 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $59,702,000. CenterPoint Energy accounts for 4.4% of HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.29% of CenterPoint Energy at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CNP. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 80,577 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,283 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,104,000 after buying an additional 42,578 shares during the period. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $265,000. Atria Investments Inc lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 34,577 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,097,000 after acquiring an additional 12,563 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $24,930,000 after acquiring an additional 56,037 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock traded down $0.27 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $36.99. The stock had a trading volume of 2,070,106 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,546,681. 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 one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $37.70. The firm's 50 day moving average is $35.37 and its 200 day moving average is $32.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate 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 analysts' expectations of $2.46 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Argus raised CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $35.04.

CenterPoint Energy 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.