T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Acquires 1,922,169 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,922,169 shares during the period. CenterPoint Energy comprises approximately 0.9% of T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned about 7.16% of CenterPoint Energy worth $1,480,060,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CNP. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,446,036,000 after buying an additional 27,799,744 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth $158,232,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $97,348,000. Finally, HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $59,702,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Evercore ISI raised CenterPoint Energy from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on 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 research note on Friday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.04.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $37.21 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day moving average is $35.37 and its 200 day moving average is $32.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.40, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $37.70. 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 (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

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

CenterPoint Energy 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.

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