23,966 Shares in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Acquired by B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 23,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $705,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 185.7% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 235,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,287,000 after purchasing an additional 152,878 shares during the period. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 18.7% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 78,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,442,000 after purchasing an additional 12,422 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 13.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,052,237 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,630,000 after buying an additional 124,529 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,863,000 after buying an additional 24,400 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $2,564,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:CNP opened at $31.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $20.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $29.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $29.17. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $32.34.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The company 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 posted $0.40 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS 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. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.63%. 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 dividend payout ratio is 55.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on CNP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

About CenterPoint Energy

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.