Allstate Corp Acquires New Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Allstate Corp bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 23,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $923,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at $26,000. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at $26,000. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $29,000. First Horizon Corp acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $30,000. Finally, Ameritas Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CNP. Morgan Stanley restated an “underperform” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday. KeyCorp upgraded shares of 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. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, December 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.82.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.6%

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $39.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $38.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $38.46. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $31.76 and a 1-year high of $40.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 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 the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.23 per share. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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