Versor Investments LP Invests $554,000 in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Key Points

• Versor Investments LP has acquired 15,300 shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc., valued at approximately $554,000.
• CenterPoint Energy missed its quarterly earnings estimate, reporting $0.29 EPS against a consensus of $0.44 EPS.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, representing a 2.3% dividend yield.

Versor Investments LP purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 15,300 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $554,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Curat Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter worth about $25,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 58.9% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 201.5% in the first quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho set a $39.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.38.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.9%

NYSE CNP traded down $0.3580 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $37.6920. 5,755,977 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,148,262. The company has a 50 day moving average of $37.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $36.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.32 and a 52-week high of $39.39. The firm has a market cap of $24.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.36, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.58.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.15). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.16% and a net margin of 10.42%.The company had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.740-1.760 EPS. Equities research 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

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.