BTG Pactual Global Asset Management Ltd Acquires 48,302 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

BTG Pactual Global Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 110.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 92,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 48,302 shares during the period. BTG Pactual Global Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,688,000 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. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth about $26,000. CENTRAL TRUST Co grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 137.5% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 550 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 176.7% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares during the last quarter. Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, KB Financial Partners LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 88.96% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, COO Jason P. Wells bought 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 9th. The stock was bought at an average price of $26.91 per share, for a total transaction of $269,100.00. Following the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 55,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,495,119.60. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO David J. Lesar purchased 37,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $27.12 per share, with a total value of $1,003,440.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 37,000 shares in the company, valued at $1,003,440. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, COO Jason P. Wells acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 9th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $26.91 per share, with a total value of $269,100.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now directly owns 55,560 shares in the company, valued at $1,495,119.60. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “sell” rating on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $33.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 6th. Barclays dropped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $27.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 24th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $29.00 in a report on Monday, October 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $32.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.20.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP traded up $0.14 on Friday, hitting $27.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,174,128 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,091,309. The company has a market capitalization of $17.55 billion, a PE ratio of 22.24, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.57. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.42 and a 1 year high of $31.52. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $27.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.53.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.09 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.28% and a net margin of 9.18%. CenterPoint Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 2.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.32 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 14th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.19. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 64.00%.

CenterPoint Energy Profile

CenterPoint Energy, Inc operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through Electric and Natural Gas segments. 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.