GQG Partners LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,170,367 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $78,632,000. GQG Partners LLC owned approximately 0.33% of CenterPoint Energy as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 21.5% in the 1st quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 1,653 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $60,000 after buying an additional 293 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted 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 during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 13,718 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $497,000 after purchasing an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 4,601 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $146,000 after purchasing an additional 388 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.5% in the 1st quarter. Baader Bank Aktiengesellschaft now owns 7,582 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $272,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
CNP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Mizuho set a $39.00 target price on CenterPoint Energy and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.38.
View Our Latest Research Report on CNP
CenterPoint Energy Price Performance
Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $38.46 on Wednesday. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $36.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.11 billion, a PE ratio of 26.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 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. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $39.39.
CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 analysts' expectations 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 prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. As a group, equities research 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. 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 currently 61.54%.
CenterPoint Energy Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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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