Guggenheim Capital LLC Acquires 7,480 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Guggenheim Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 114,690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,480 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $3,639,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CNP. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of CNP stock opened at $37.14 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $24.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.36, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $37.70. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.63. 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 (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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%. Research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CNP. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI raised CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.46.

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.