CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Purchased by Zimmer Partners LP

Zimmer Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 98.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,536,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 760,956 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP owned 0.24% of CenterPoint Energy worth $45,208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake 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 in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,780,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $31.67 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $33.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.80 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $30.46 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.35.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.21 dividend. 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. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 55.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced 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 research report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.58.

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.