Commerce Bank Purchases 1,760 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Commerce Bank lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,760 shares during the period. Commerce Bank’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Prospera Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $143,000. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth $705,000. Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3,469,900.0% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 34,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,021,000 after acquiring an additional 34,699 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after purchasing an additional 24,400 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $311,000 after purchasing an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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 report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $31.93 on Friday. The stock 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $32.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $29.71 and its 200 day moving average is $29.17.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.63%.

CenterPoint Energy Company 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.