Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Buys 46,653 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 115.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 87,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 46,653 shares during the quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C.'s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,566,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CNP. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on CNP shares. 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 report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp cut CenterPoint Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $30.00.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP traded up $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $31.93. The company had a trading volume of 4,893,657 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,360,303. 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 cap of $20.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $32.34. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.71 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.17.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.21 dividend. 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. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio 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.