Nordea Investment Management AB Grows Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 1,525.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 457,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 429,232 shares during the quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $17,572,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,362,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,989,256,000 after acquiring an additional 1,301,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 4.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,710,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $611,377,000 after purchasing an additional 652,202 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $313,456,000. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.9% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,556,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $204,153,000 after buying an additional 49,781 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $2,546,354.91. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $39.29 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $38.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $38.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The company has a market cap of $25.65 billion, a PE ratio of 24.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.59. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $31.70 and a 12 month high of $40.50.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 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, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 55.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CNP shares. Mizuho set a $42.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley set a $36.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.45.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE: CNP) is a Houston-based regulated utility company that provides electric and natural gas delivery services and related infrastructure operations. The company’s principal activities center on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the greater Houston metropolitan area and the distribution of natural gas to customers across several states in the Midwest and South. As a vertically integrated utility, CenterPoint focuses on the reliable delivery of energy through owned and operated networks of lines, pipelines and associated facilities.

CenterPoint’s core businesses include regulated electric transmission and distribution services, regulated natural gas distribution, and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure.