R Squared Ltd Makes New Investment in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 18,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $661,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,061,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,900,612,000 after acquiring an additional 671,868 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.9% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,934,611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $215,011,000 after purchasing an additional 54,596 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,408,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $195,938,000 after purchasing an additional 42,536 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 50.2% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,118,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $185,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 58.4% during the 1st quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,385,632 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $158,891,000 after buying an additional 1,616,181 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock opened at $39.61 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $38.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.64. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $28.57 and a 52 week high of $40.50.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.16% and a net margin of 10.42%.The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on CNP. Barclays increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Mizuho set a $42.00 target price on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Evercore ISI initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.95.

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.