Waratah Capital Advisors Ltd. Makes New Investment in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Waratah Capital Advisors Ltd. bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 314,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,552,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $254,000. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 11.1% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $174,000 after acquiring an additional 478 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth about $218,000. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 17.8% in the first quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 2,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Finally, Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 10.5% during the first quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 73,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,653,000 after purchasing an additional 6,972 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $39.74 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $38.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.90. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $29.97 and a 52-week high of $40.50. The company has a market cap of $25.95 billion, a PE ratio of 25.15, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CNP. Mizuho set a $42.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, October 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $44.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $240,746.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 65,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,546,354.91. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.