Van ECK Associates Corp Buys 22,347 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 197,793 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 22,347 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $6,276,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CNP. Cigna Investments Inc. New purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth $202,000. Savant Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $252,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 275,984 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,757,000 after acquiring an additional 14,114 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 13.6% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,027 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $382,000 after purchasing an additional 1,442 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 71,361 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,264,000 after purchasing an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.8 %

CNP stock traded up $0.59 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $34.32. The company had a trading volume of 6,019,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,177,416. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $32.34 and a 200 day moving average of $30.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $34.39. The company has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a PE ratio of 22.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is 55.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the topic of several analyst reports. Guggenheim downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $34.50 target price on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.46.

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.