CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Bought by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 7.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,037 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $24,930,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $302,070,000 after buying an additional 2,961,464 shares in the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484,079 shares during the last quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $42,548,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth $31,188,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently commented on CNP shares. KeyCorp lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. StockNews.com downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.09.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $30.46 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.85 billion, a PE ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.92. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $29.15 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.06. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.76%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 52.98%.

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.