State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Acquires 5,850 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 612,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,850 shares during the quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System owned 0.09% of CenterPoint Energy worth $22,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter worth $92,025,000. GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $78,632,000. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 31.6% during the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,859,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $288,765,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886,374 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Management LLC grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2,845.6% in the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,938,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,222,000 after buying an additional 1,872,429 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 50.2% in the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,118,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $185,434,000 after buying an additional 1,709,682 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 65,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,546,354.91. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $39.98 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.59 and a 1 year high of $40.50. The company has a market capitalization of $26.10 billion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $38.01. 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 (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. Analysts forecast 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 $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, October 25th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.50.

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.