CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Purchased by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 3.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 864,175 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 26,153 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.13% of CenterPoint Energy worth $31,309,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,446,036,000 after buying an additional 27,799,744 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $164,350,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $158,232,000. American Century Companies Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $108,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,185,932 shares in the last quarter. Finally, T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,480,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,169 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP opened at $36.21 on Tuesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $39.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm has a market cap of $23.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.57. The company's 50-day moving average price is $36.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $35.14.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 10.80%. The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up previously from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price 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. Evercore ISI upped 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. Finally, Barclays raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 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.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy Company 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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