First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Has $289,000 Stock Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. lessened its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 51.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 10,316 shares during the quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $289,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in CNP. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 79.1% during the third quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 106,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,119,000 after buying an additional 46,800 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 33.5% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 41,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,199,000 after buying an additional 10,346 shares in the last quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 36,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,080,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC now owns 20,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $599,000 after acquiring an additional 5,068 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $29.02 on Tuesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $31.57. The company has a market capitalization of $18.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced 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 business 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 in the prior year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. Research analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 2.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.09.

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.