OLD National Bancorp IN Increases Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

OLD National Bancorp IN raised its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,732 shares during the quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $387,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $302,070,000 after buying an additional 2,961,464 shares during the period. Railway Pension Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484,079 shares during the period. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $42,548,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,188,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $29.81 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $31.57. The company has a market capitalization of $19.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a 50 day moving average of $28.21 and a 200 day moving average of $28.91.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date 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 59.15%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CNP. StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, 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 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.91.

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.