PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 3.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 114,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,335 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $3,628,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 40,054 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,178,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 19,731 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $626,000 after purchasing an additional 518 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $34.58 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.04. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $35.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.75, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. On average, analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.55%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Evercore ISI raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $32.77.

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.