Schroder Investment Management Group Grows Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 586,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 34,415 shares during the quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $21,558,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $32,114,000. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $313,456,000. Level Four Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 28.3% during the second quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 10,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 2,285 shares during the last quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $235,000. Finally, State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 612,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $22,509,000 after buying an additional 5,850 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $240,746.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 65,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,546,354.91. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.50.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $38.35 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.38. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.59 and a 1 year high of $40.50. The company has a market cap of $25.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.56. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $39.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $38.04.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 55.70%.

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.