CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Purchased by Cohen & Steers Inc.

Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 23.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,206,107 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 420,605 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. owned about 0.34% of CenterPoint Energy worth $70,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 80,577 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,557,000 after buying an additional 2,283 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,104,000 after purchasing an additional 42,578 shares during the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $265,000. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 57.1% during the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 34,577 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 12,563 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $24,930,000 after buying an additional 56,037 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP stock traded up $0.36 during trading on Friday, hitting $37.14. 4,269,205 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,556,188. The stock has a market capitalization 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, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $37.70. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $35.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91.

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 for the quarter, hitting 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 analysts' expectations of $2.46 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $34.46.

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.