Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 110,905 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.9% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,956,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 110,905 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $116,398,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CNP. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $33,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.8 %

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $32.49 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $29.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $32.61. The company has a market capitalization of $21.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 55.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CNP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.00.

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.