Pitcairn Co. Purchases 602 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Pitcairn Co. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,789 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 602 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $612,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $43,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $32.49 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $21.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $32.61. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $29.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.18. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors 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 yield of 2.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, August 26th. KeyCorp downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, 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 note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus 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.