Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Increases Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 31.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 350,798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 83,127 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. owned approximately 0.05% of CenterPoint Energy worth $13,611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 13,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $506,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,000 after acquiring an additional 286 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 3,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $145,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 21,180 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $778,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNP has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, December 12th. Wall Street Zen cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.64.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.4%

CNP opened at $38.26 on Wednesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.59 and a 52 week high of $40.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.28. The firm has a market cap of $24.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.59.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.31 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In related news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 65,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,546,354.91. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE: CNP) is a Houston-based regulated utility company that provides electric and natural gas delivery services and related infrastructure operations. The company’s principal activities center on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the greater Houston metropolitan area and the distribution of natural gas to customers across several states in the Midwest and South. As a vertically integrated utility, CenterPoint focuses on the reliable delivery of energy through owned and operated networks of lines, pipelines and associated facilities.

CenterPoint’s core businesses include regulated electric transmission and distribution services, regulated natural gas distribution, and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure.