CenterPoint Energy Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:CNP)

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) saw some unusual options trading on Friday. Traders bought 3,825 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 272% compared to the typical daily volume of 1,029 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $44.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Mizuho set a $42.00 target price on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.50.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of CNP stock traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $39.68. 578,457 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,185,850. The company has a market cap of $25.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.89. CenterPoint Energy has a 1-year low of $29.97 and a 1-year high of $40.50.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.The company had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In related news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 65,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,546,354.91. This trade represents a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CenterPoint Energy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $254,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 20,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $758,000 after buying an additional 1,035 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 47.0% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 84,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,050,000 after buying an additional 26,925 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 11.1% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $174,000 after buying an additional 478 shares during the period. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth about $218,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.