Raymond James Financial Inc. Acquires 758,354 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Key Points

• Raymond James Financial Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 24.7%, acquiring an additional 758,354 shares, which brought their total ownership to approximately 0.59% of the company, valued at $138.6 million.
• CenterPoint Energy's stock experienced a 1.0% decrease recently, trading at $38.05, while the company reported a missed earnings estimate for the last quarter, posting $0.29 EPS against an expected $0.44.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, which translates to an annualized yield of 2.3%, with a payout ratio of 61.54%.

Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 24.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,826,351 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 758,354 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.59% of CenterPoint Energy worth $138,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CNP. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Mizuho set a $39.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.38.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CNP stock traded up $0.0340 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $38.0340. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,607,602 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,139,331. The company has a market cap of $24.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.60, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. 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 firm's 50-day moving average is $37.21 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.42. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.32 and a 1-year high of $39.39.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 last year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.740-1.760 EPS. On average, research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.