Baird Financial Group Inc. Has $1.75 Million Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Key Points

• Baird Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 325.3% to a total of 48,186 shares, valued at approximately $1.75 million.
• Despite strong institutional ownership at 91.77%, CenterPoint Energy missed earnings expectations, reporting $0.29 per share against a consensus of $0.44, while quarterly revenue was below estimates at $1.94 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 2.3%, with a dividend payout ratio of 61.54%.

Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 325.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,186 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 36,856 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,746,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,061,059 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,900,612,000 after purchasing an additional 671,868 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,934,611 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $215,011,000 after acquiring an additional 54,596 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,408,135 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $195,938,000 after acquiring an additional 42,536 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 50.2% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,118,233 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $185,434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,709,682 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 58.4% during the 1st quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,385,632 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $158,891,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616,181 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $37.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a current ratio of 0.79. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.32 and a fifty-two week high of $39.39. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $37.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $36.79. The company has a market capitalization of $24.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.42, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.58.

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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.740-1.760 EPS. Analysts expect 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, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $38.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Mizuho set a $39.00 target price on CenterPoint Energy and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.71.

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.

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