On May 13, 2023, it was reported that RENASANT Bank had increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by a staggering 61.1% during the fourth quarter. According to their most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, the bank owned 11,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,456 shares during the period. At the end of the quarter, RENASANT Bank’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were valued at $352,000.
This news comes on the heels of CenterPoint Energy’s earnings report for Q1 of 2023, which showed strong revenue figures and a beat on earnings per share expectations. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter compared to analyst estimates of $0.48 – marking a deviation from forecasts by $0.02 cents per share. Additionally, CenterPoint Energy had revenue totaling $2.78 billion during Q1 2023.
Despite these positive developments for CenterPoint Energy, there have been reports of corporate insiders selling shares of company stock in May. Specifically, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,000 shares at an average price tag of $30.51 per share for a total transaction value of $152,550 on May 8th. Following this sale, Smitherman now directly holds only 21,075 shares in growing and thriving enterprise Centrepoint energy with an estimated worth around an impressive six-firs digit number – approximately US$642k.
Director Ted Pound also sold his stakes in Centrepoint Energy around mid-May , cashing out on two transactions amounting up-to values around mid-five-digit USD range following the completion selling off his last share on Friday-May-05-2023 . Both sales took place around similar prices averaging about US$30 per share.
It remains unclear why insiders might have chosen to sell rather than hold their shares, but some speculate that they may have decided to take profits while the stock was trading at a relatively high price level. It is also worth noting that these sales by insiders only constituted 0.18% of the company’s total outstanding shares – a small percentage overall.
Despite this insider selling, sentiment towards CenterPoint Energy remains largely positive due to its strong earnings and revenue figures from Q1 of 2023. Research analysts predict further growth and even better EPS results for the current year with an estimated EPS of 1.49 in 2023 and beyond as CenterPoint Energy continues to capture growing supply chains within its market.
CenterPoint Energy Attracts Hedge Funds and Institutional Investors While Prospects Continue to Grow
CenterPoint Energy, the US-based utility provider, has experienced a surge in interest from hedge funds and institutional investors this year. CENTRAL TRUST Co increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 137.5% during Q3 2022, with Covestor Ltd also increasing its position by 176.7% in Q1 2023. Other recent investments include Affiance Financial’s new position in the company during Q4 2022 and MinichMacGregor Wealth Management’s Q4 purchase of CenterPoint shares. Additionally, Boyd Watterson Asset Management acquired a new stake during the same period worth approximately $34,000. These purchases bring institutional ownership of the stock to an overwhelming 90.28%.
CenterPoint Energy’s prices hit $29.91 on Friday and have fluctuated within that range for some time now, with a fifty day moving average price of $29.60 and two hundred day moving average price of $29.66 at present. The firm holds financial debt as equity ratio of 1:65 along with quick ratio-0:75 and current ratio-1:00 to show their company strength.
Two directors recently sold CenterPoint Energy stocks; Barry T Smitherman sold five thousand shares on May 8th worth approximately $152,550 while Ted Pound sold two thousand seven hundred seventy shares on May 5th valued at approximately $84,485 just days before Smitherman did the same thing. The company recently announced that it will pay out a quarterly dividend to shareholders of record on Thursday May 18th with payments made the following month.
Despite these sales, most analysts hold a “Moderate Buy” recommendation for CenterPoint Energy stock according to data from Bloomberg.com which suggests potential for growth in future – considering that they raised their price target from $30 to $35 back in April as well as having numerous other buy ratings from big banks such as Guggenheim and Royal Bank of Canada. This is especially noteworthy given their P/E ratio of 23.74, beta of 0.88 and price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2:76 which suggest the company may be undervalued in the current market.
