87,162 Shares in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Acquired by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 87,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,564,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $604,000 after buying an additional 484 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,441,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,422,000 after purchasing an additional 5,981 shares in the last quarter. Entropy Technologies LP acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $1,969,000. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the third quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $756,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of CNP stock opened at $30.86 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $29.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.09. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $31.57. 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 company has a market capitalization of $20.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.44, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.92.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company 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 dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. This is a boost 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 52.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.09.

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.