Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Raises Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 32.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,213 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,894,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.4% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 170,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,633,000 after purchasing an additional 5,643 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 60.2% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 9,101 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $353,000 after purchasing an additional 3,421 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 463.1% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 261,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,152,000 after purchasing an additional 215,185 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $936,000 after purchasing an additional 2,034 shares during the period. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $302,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE CNP opened at $37.92 on Monday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.86 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 company has a market capitalization of $24.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.59. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $38.71 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.31.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $240,746.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 65,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,546,354.91. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on CNP shares. Morgan Stanley set a $36.00 price target on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Wall Street Zen cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Evercore ISI began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Mizuho set a $42.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.64.

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.