PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP – Free Report) by 7.9% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 90,495 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,614 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,430,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Advisor Partners II LLC grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Advisor Partners II LLC now owns 29,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $865,000 after acquiring an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 52,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,413,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares during the last quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Wetherby Asset Management Inc. now owns 11,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $327,000 after purchasing an additional 412 shares in the last quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after buying an additional 427 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. MidWestOne Financial Group Inc. now owns 13,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $405,000 after buying an additional 465 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.96% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, November 21st. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Evercore ISI cut CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.64.
Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on CenterPoint Energy
CenterPoint Energy Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $28.28 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $28.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.00. The company has a market cap of $17.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.62, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.93. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.42 and a twelve month high of $31.43.
CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.32. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.28% and a net margin of 9.18%. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.28 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.5 earnings per share for the current year.
CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 14th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 14th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 64.00%.
Insider Activity
In other news, CFO Christopher A. Foster purchased 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 29th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $28.10 per share, for a total transaction of $140,500.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief financial officer now directly owns 147,693 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,150,173.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
About CenterPoint Energy
CenterPoint Energy, Inc operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through Electric and Natural Gas segments. 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.
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