Venturi Wealth Management LLC Purchases 736 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 25,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $756,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $52,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 18.0% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 219,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,469,000 after purchasing an additional 33,516 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 77.6% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 22,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $648,000 after purchasing an additional 9,619 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,930,000 after purchasing an additional 56,037 shares during the period. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $72,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $30.06 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $19.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $29.09 and its 200 day moving average is $29.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 52.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.09.

About CenterPoint Energy

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.