Public Sector Pension Investment Board Purchases 5,300 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 4.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 113,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,300 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $3,345,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Railway Pension Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at about $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $144,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484,079 shares during the last quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,548,000. Merewether Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,188,000. Finally, Teilinger Capital Ltd. acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,478,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective 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, November 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.58.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP opened at $32.14 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $20.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $30.21 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.28. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $33.00.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.61%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.63%.

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.