Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Buys 269,475 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 114.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 504,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 269,475 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.08% of CenterPoint Energy worth $14,848,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 226,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,660,000 after purchasing an additional 4,139 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1,391.8% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 536,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,800,000 after buying an additional 500,425 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 56.8% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 20,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $612,000 after acquiring an additional 7,538 shares in the last quarter. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth about $88,000. Finally, Raleigh Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raleigh Capital Management Inc. now owns 7,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after acquiring an additional 689 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $29.31 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $28.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.92. 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.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the business posted $0.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect 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 paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 49.69%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Two equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.