Ariel Investments LLC Buys 195,987 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Key Points

• Ariel Investments LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 13.4%, acquiring an additional 195,987 shares and raising its total holdings to approximately 1.65 million shares worth about $59.95 million.
• CenterPoint Energy's latest earnings report showed an EPS of $0.29, missing estimates by $0.15, and a revenue of $1.94 billion, below the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, translating to an annual yield of 2.3%, with the dividend to be paid on September 11th.

Ariel Investments LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 13.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,654,590 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 195,987 shares during the period. Ariel Investments LLC owned 0.25% of CenterPoint Energy worth $59,946,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 80,229 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,907,000 after buying an additional 6,377 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,913 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $721,000 after buying an additional 1,615 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 3.1% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 864,175 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,309,000 after buying an additional 26,153 shares during the period. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,314,131 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $73,427,000 after purchasing an additional 569,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.6% during the 1st quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 166,743 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 8,914 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CNP. Mizuho set a $39.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.71.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock traded up $0.32 on Friday, reaching $37.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,087,073 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,235,525. The company has a market cap of $24.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.42, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.58. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.32 and a twelve month high of $39.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.79. The business's fifty day moving average price is $37.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.77.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.16% and a net margin of 10.42%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.36 EPS. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.740-1.760 EPS. Equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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. 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 presently 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.