Czech National Bank Purchases 8,544 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Czech National Bank increased its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 6.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 141,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,544 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $4,484,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. First Hawaiian Bank increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 12,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $397,000 after acquiring an additional 1,160 shares during the period. Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 13,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 53.3% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 3,983 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,930,000 after purchasing an additional 56,037 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 143,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $31.89 on Thursday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $33.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $31.56 and a 200 day moving average of $29.57. The stock has a market cap of $20.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.27.

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.