Retirement Systems of Alabama Acquires 2,789 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Retirement Systems of Alabama lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 143,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,789 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $4,234,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Railway Pension Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $144,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,484,079 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 566.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,744,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,482,966 shares in the last quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,188,000. Finally, Teilinger Capital Ltd. bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,478,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CNP. StockNews.com downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.27.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP opened at $31.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company has a market capitalization of $20.70 billion, a PE ratio of 21.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.96. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.80 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.46. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $33.00.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting 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 the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.77%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.63%.

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.