Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan Acquires Shares of 9,834 CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 9,834 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $312,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,167 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,907 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $378,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 13,909 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $441,000 after acquiring an additional 432 shares during the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,740 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $309,000 after acquiring an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.8 %

NYSE CNP traded up $0.65 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $37.14. 689,447 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,536,385. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $35.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $32.70. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $37.70. The firm has a market cap of $24.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNP has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Argus raised CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $35.04.

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.