CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by Bank of Nova Scotia

Bank of Nova Scotia lessened its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 21.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 59,602 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 16,028 shares during the quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,159,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,449,927 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,774,941,000 after purchasing an additional 334,631 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,480,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,169 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 27,799,744 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 7.9% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,880,015 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $186,573,000 after purchasing an additional 431,260 shares during the period. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth $164,350,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CNP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wall Street Zen downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. Barclays upped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.38.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $38.60 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.83 and a 200-day moving average of $35.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $25.20 billion, a PE ratio of 26.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.58. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.41 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 for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.15). The business had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 prior year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.

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