CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Purchased by Raymond James & Associates

Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,195,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,787 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned approximately 0.19% of CenterPoint Energy worth $35,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 185.7% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 235,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,287,000 after buying an additional 152,878 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter worth about $1,625,000. Duality Advisers LP lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 837.7% in the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 210,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,985,000 after purchasing an additional 187,662 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $1,109,000. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 86.4% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,413,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,282,000 after acquiring an additional 655,327 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CNP opened at $29.73 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $28.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.02 billion, a PE ratio of 20.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $31.57.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 59.15%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.91.

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.