Aspire Private Capital LLC Acquires New Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Aspire Private Capital LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 15,583 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $445,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter worth $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 634.9% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth $49,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter worth $80,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.0 %

CenterPoint Energy stock traded up $0.01 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $28.79. 471,466 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,199,054. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.97. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.42 and a 12-month high of $31.43. The firm has a market cap of $18.22 billion, a PE ratio of 21.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 10.55%. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. Research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. KeyCorp raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Guggenheim cut their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank cut their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI cut CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.18.

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.