Ariel Investments LLC Acquires New Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Ariel Investments LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 1,458,603 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $46,281,000. Ariel Investments LLC owned approximately 0.22% of CenterPoint Energy as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth $26,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 143,906 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,234,000 after buying an additional 2,789 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% during the third 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. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,459 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $364,000 after buying an additional 3,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 13,356 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Argus raised shares of CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.79.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.95. The company had a trading volume of 3,434,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,565,258. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $39.46. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $36.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $33.29. The stock has a market cap of $25.42 billion, a PE ratio of 24.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.26%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 59.06%.

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.