Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Invests $222,000 in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 7,535 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Moors & Cabot Inc. raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 52,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,539,000 after purchasing an additional 1,172 shares in the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Commerce Bank boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 76,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,247,000 after buying an additional 1,760 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth about $143,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $705,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.6 %

CNP opened at $31.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $20.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $32.34. The business’s fifty day moving average is $29.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $29.17.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 55.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on CNP shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Two research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average 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.