LPL Financial LLC Boosts Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

LPL Financial LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 157,052 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,134 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC's holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $4,983,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CNP. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 2,283 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $265,000. Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 57.1% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position 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. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on CNP. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. Argus upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $34.46.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.0 %

CenterPoint Energy stock traded up $0.37 during trading on Friday, reaching $36.56. 8,296,724 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,546,201. The company's 50-day moving average is $34.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.40. 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, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $37.70. The firm has a market cap of $23.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.99, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. On average, analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

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.