Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Boosts Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 263.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,401 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $172,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $92,025,000. GQG Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $78,632,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 31.6% during the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,859,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,765,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886,374 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2,845.6% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,938,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,222,000 after buying an additional 1,872,429 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 50.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,118,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $185,434,000 after buying an additional 1,709,682 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on CNP shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.50.

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 dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $39.50 on Tuesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $29.91 and a twelve month 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 $25.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.00, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $38.79 and its 200 day moving average is $37.85.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released 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 return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.The business had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company 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 Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.70%.

CenterPoint Energy 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.