Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Has $15.08 Million Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) by 2.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 535,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,373 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $15,081,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 176.7% during the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 569 shares in the last quarter. Canton Hathaway LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Legacy CG LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, CX Institutional acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $37,000. 90.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy to $35.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Monday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 15th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $31.82.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Barry T. Smitherman bought 8,005 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, November 7th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $28.38 per share, for a total transaction of $227,181.90. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 20,534 shares in the company, valued at approximately $582,754.92. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE:CNP opened at $31.07 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $30.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.69, a current ratio of 0.89 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $19.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.89, a P/E/G ratio of 5.69 and a beta of 0.86. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.03 and a 12-month high of $33.50.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.74 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 17.67%. Equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.39 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, March 9th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.19 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 15th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.45%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 29.88%.

About CenterPoint Energy

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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 assets in the wholesale power market.