Sterling Capital Management LLC Has $1.26 Million Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 57.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 39,778 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,571 shares during the quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC's holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,262,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,490,728 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $490,205,000 after acquiring an additional 406,832 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $158,232,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,116,586 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $130,619,000 after acquiring an additional 160,154 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% during the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $108,153,000 after acquiring an additional 3,185,932 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $97,348,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target 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. Barclays lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. 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 note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Argus upgraded CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $34.46.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP traded up $0.36 on Friday, reaching $37.14. 4,269,205 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,556,188. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $37.70. The company has a fifty day moving average of $35.22 and a 200-day moving average of $32.63. The company has a market capitalization of $24.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.36, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. On average, research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.