Leeward Investments LLC MA Boosts Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Leeward Investments LLC MA grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 28.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 269,508 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 60,370 shares during the quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA's holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $8,551,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the period. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,780,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the period. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank raised CenterPoint Energy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock traded down $0.25 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $33.80. 4,340,858 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,287,683. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $32.48 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $34.49.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.60%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 55.35%.

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.