61,730 Shares in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Bought by Neo Ivy Capital Management

Neo Ivy Capital Management purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 61,730 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,816,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 40.7% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 20,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $580,000 after acquiring an additional 5,891 shares during the period. CWM LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 5.1% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 11,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $354,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 11.0% in the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 31,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $974,000 after purchasing an additional 3,110 shares in the last quarter. Cigna Investments Inc. New bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth $209,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 185.7% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 235,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,287,000 after purchasing an additional 152,878 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Scotiabank raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.58.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $31.39 on Wednesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $33.00. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $30.53 and a 200 day moving average of $29.36. The company has a market capitalization of $20.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.63%.

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.