abrdn plc Buys 45,710 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

abrdn plc increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,143,997 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 45,710 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned about 0.18% of CenterPoint Energy worth $36,190,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ING Groep NV bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at $2,564,000. DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at $908,000. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $55,863,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares during the period. Custom Index Systems LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $265,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $705,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on CNP shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.46.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP traded up $0.16 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $32.43. The stock had a trading volume of 3,004,868 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,041,265. The company's 50-day moving average price is $32.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.89. The company has a market capitalization of $21.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. 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 fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $33.12.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.71%. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is presently 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.