Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Increases Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Key Points

• Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1.8%, owning 582,871 shares valued at approximately $21.1 million at the end of the most recent quarter.
• CenterPoint Energy's stock was recently assessed with a consensus "Hold" rating from analysts, who have set a target price of $37.38, with one rating as a sell and five as buy.
• The company missed analysts' expectations by reporting an EPS of $0.29 for the last quarter, while it had a revenue of $1.94 billion against projected earnings of $2.20 billion.

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 582,871 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,225 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned about 0.09% of CenterPoint Energy worth $21,117,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 21.5% in the first quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,653 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $60,000 after acquiring an additional 293 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 17.8% in the 1st quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 2,014 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $73,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares in the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 13,718 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $497,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 4,601 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $146,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the period. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,167 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $164,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of CNP traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $38.83. The company had a trading volume of 3,475,615 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,931,592. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $39.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $36.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.02. The stock has a market cap of $25.35 billion, a PE ratio of 27.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.58.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on CNP shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on 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. Wall Street Zen cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $37.38.

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.