DRW Securities LLC Buys Shares of 30,861 CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 30,861 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $908,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Boston Partners increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 17,545,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $499,962,000 after purchasing an additional 556,802 shares during the period. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $144,570,000 after buying an additional 1,484,079 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 4,043,757 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $125,275,000 after acquiring an additional 53,655 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,956,432 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $116,398,000 after acquiring an additional 110,905 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,611,909 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $80,914,000 after acquiring an additional 200,693 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $29.00 target price for the company. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.00.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.2 %

CenterPoint Energy stock traded up $0.06 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $32.54. The company had a trading volume of 4,399,011 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,356,868. The firm's fifty day moving average is $29.79 and its 200-day moving average is $29.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $32.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is 55.63%.

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.