PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Has $3.24 Million Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 5.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 110,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,518 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $3,236,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961,464 shares in the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,484,079 shares during the period. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $42,548,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,188,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CNP shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target for the company. KeyCorp downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $31.93 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $29.71 and a 200-day moving average of $29.16. 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 $20.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $32.34.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.40 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

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

CenterPoint Energy 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.