Principal Financial Group Inc. Purchases 56,037 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 847,366 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 56,037 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned about 0.13% of CenterPoint Energy worth $24,930,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth about $43,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CNP traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $30.49. The company had a trading volume of 2,681,280 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,365,062. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.87 billion, a PE ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $31.57. The stock's 50 day moving average is $29.15 and its 200-day moving average is $29.06.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company 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 represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is 52.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets restated a "market perform" rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp cut CenterPoint Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CenterPoint Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $30.09.

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.