Huntington National Bank Buys 556 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Huntington National Bank lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 15.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 556 shares during the quarter. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $124,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,441,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,422,000 after acquiring an additional 5,981 shares during the period. Entropy Technologies LP bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,969,000. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the 3rd 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 during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 18.0% in the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 219,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,469,000 after buying an additional 33,516 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $30.86 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.44, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.92. 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 data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. 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 is presently 55.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. KeyCorp downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average 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.