Mariner LLC Buys 10,363 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Mariner LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 18.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,606 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,363 shares during the period. Mariner LLC's holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,145,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Norges Bank bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $158,232,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% during the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $108,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,185,932 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $97,348,000. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 809.7% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 545,239 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $17,355,000 after acquiring an additional 485,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 2,206,107 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $70,000,000 after acquiring an additional 420,605 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNP has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Argus raised shares of CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays raised CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $35.46.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP traded up $0.27 on Friday, hitting $38.17. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,872,515 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,592,911. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $38.33. 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 has a market capitalization of $24.91 billion, a PE ratio of 24.01, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. Sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.31%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.35%.

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.