Investors Buy Large Volume of CenterPoint Energy Call Options (NYSE:CNP)

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Traders purchased 3,825 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 272% compared to the typical volume of 1,029 call options.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $44.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $42.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.50.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, reaching $39.68. The stock had a trading volume of 578,457 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,185,850. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The company has a market capitalization of $25.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $38.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.89. CenterPoint Energy has a 52 week low of $29.97 and a 52 week high of $40.50.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.During the same period last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.70%.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Trading of CenterPoint Energy

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital International Investors increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,129,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,381,069,000 after buying an additional 833,374 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,661,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,168,459,000 after acquiring an additional 298,892 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,710,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $611,377,000 after acquiring an additional 652,202 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at about $313,456,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 31.6% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,859,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,765,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886,374 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

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.