American Century Companies Inc. Acquires 1,709,682 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy, acquiring 1,709,682 shares to bring its total ownership to 5,118,233 shares, valued at approximately $185 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Analysts have varied outlooks on CenterPoint Energy, with price targets ranging from $34.00 to $41.00, reflecting a mixed consensus rating of "Hold" among analysts.
• CenterPoint Energy reported earnings of $0.29 per share for the last quarter, missing expectations, and will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share on September 11th.

American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 50.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,118,233 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 1,709,682 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned 0.78% of CenterPoint Energy worth $185,434,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Aberdeen Group plc boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 30.7% in the 1st quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 1,494,737 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $54,401,000 after purchasing an additional 350,740 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 9,359 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 46.3% in the 1st quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 12,511 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $453,000 after purchasing an additional 3,957 shares in the last quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 111.2% in the 1st quarter. Vestmark Advisory Solutions Inc. now owns 13,774 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $499,000 after purchasing an additional 7,251 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GQG Partners LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $78,632,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.38.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $38.05 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $37.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.58. 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 $25.65 and a 52 week high of $39.39.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 9.16%. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is 61.54%.

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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