CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Stake Increased by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 1,431.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 3,185,932 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 0.52% of CenterPoint Energy worth $108,153,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CNP. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank raised CenterPoint Energy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $33.77.

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CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.8 %

NYSE CNP traded down $0.63 on Tuesday, reaching $35.09. The company had a trading volume of 1,992,873 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,201,203. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $36.19. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $33.58 and a 200-day moving average of $31.53. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.