CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Acquired by Empirical Finance LLC

Empirical Finance LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 628 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $541,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 19,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after buying an additional 434 shares in the last quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 19,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after buying an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,780,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $604,000 after buying an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 2.9 %

Shares of CNP opened at $30.86 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a PE ratio of 20.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.68 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $29.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.09. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. Analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 55.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on CNP shares. Bank of America assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. KeyCorp cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.09.

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.