Empowered Funds LLC Acquires 809 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 809 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $311,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 19,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $609,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,780,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.3% during the second quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 176,111 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,456,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $32.49 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $21.17 billion, a PE ratio of 21.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.92. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $29.79 and a 200-day moving average of $29.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $32.61.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 55.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on CNP. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 research report on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.00.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

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.