1,400 Shares in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Bought by Kimelman & Baird LLC

Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $43,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares during the period. Finally, Tobam purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $28.00 in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.55.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $29.42 on Tuesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $31.57. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.71. The company has a market capitalization of $18.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.71, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.20.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 56.34%.

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.