Czech National Bank Acquires 8,384 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 149,690 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,384 shares during the quarter. Czech National Bank's holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $5,423,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 27,799,744 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $164,350,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $158,232,000. American Century Companies Inc. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $108,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,185,932 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $97,348,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CNP shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective 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. Argus upgraded CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up previously from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP stock traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $36.61. The company had a trading volume of 2,915,804 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,247,794. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $39.31. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $37.29 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $34.46. The firm has a market cap of $23.89 billion, a PE ratio of 23.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.40%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 59.06%.

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.