231,350 Shares in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Purchased by Holocene Advisors LP

Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 231,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,806,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CNP. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 185.7% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 235,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,287,000 after buying an additional 152,878 shares in the last quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 18.7% during the second quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 78,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,442,000 after acquiring an additional 12,422 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 13.4% in the second quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,052,237 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,630,000 after acquiring an additional 124,529 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $908,000. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the subject of a number of research reports. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.58.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.5 %

CNP stock opened at $32.14 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $30.21 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.28, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.96. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $33.00.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.