Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Acquires 42,578 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 3.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 42,578 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of CenterPoint Energy worth $47,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,780,000 after buying an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $604,000 after buying an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on CNP shares. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $31.46.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:CNP traded up $0.02 on Friday, reaching $33.45. 5,219,914 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,960,134. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $32.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $30.06. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $33.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.