Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Purchases 15,750 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 213,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,750 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $7,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter worth about $25,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Chung Wu Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Motco lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 107.8% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 1,039 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the company’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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of CNP stock opened at $39.37 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $29.21 and a 12 month high of $40.50. The stock has a market cap of $25.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $38.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.84.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. The firm 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 last year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Mizuho set a $42.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Six investment 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 company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.50.

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.