CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Purchased by Edgestream Partners L.P.

Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 116.5% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 48,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,019 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,409,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 95,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,770,000 after purchasing an additional 5,065 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 2,136,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,286,000 after purchasing an additional 119,316 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 1,609,277 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,902,000 after purchasing an additional 49,017 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 52,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,524,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,464,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $101,003,000 after purchasing an additional 25,575 shares in the last quarter. 88.96% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Jason P. Wells acquired 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $26.91 per share, for a total transaction of $269,100.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 55,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,495,119.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO David J. Lesar bought 37,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 13th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $27.12 per share, for a total transaction of $1,003,440.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 37,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,003,440. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, COO Jason P. Wells bought 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 9th. The shares were bought at an average price of $26.91 per share, for a total transaction of $269,100.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now owns 55,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,495,119.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP opened at $27.59 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $27.49 and a 200-day moving average of $28.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.90. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.42 and a 12-month high of $31.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.09 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.28% and a net margin of 9.18%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.32 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.00%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on CNP. Mizuho lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $33.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Friday, July 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 25th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Monday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 6th. Finally, TheStreet lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research note on Monday, October 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.20.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

CenterPoint Energy, Inc operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through Electric and Natural Gas segments. 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.