Czech National Bank Buys 10,857 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Czech National Bank increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 8.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 132,762 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,857 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $3,906,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd now owns 1,620,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,684,000 after buying an additional 247,390 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at about $948,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $36,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 91,197 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,825,000 after purchasing an additional 2,871 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Heartland Bank & Trust Co lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Heartland Bank & Trust Co now owns 11,571 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 493 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on CNP. KeyCorp cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, October 6th. Scotiabank cut their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $28.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.55.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $29.57 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $31.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $18.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50-day moving average of $27.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.82.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 49.69%.

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.