Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 72.9% 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 382,811 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 161,461 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund owned 0.06% of CenterPoint Energy worth $12,147,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in 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 valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $52,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
CNP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $34.50 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.65.
Read Our Latest Analysis on CenterPoint Energy
CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance
CNP stock traded up $0.64 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $34.38. The stock had a trading volume of 5,122,593 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,309,089. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.41 billion, a PE ratio of 21.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95. 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $32.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.56. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $34.49.
CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during 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%. Analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.
CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.35%.
About CenterPoint Energy
(
Free Report)
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.
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