Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. Increases Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 21.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 70,494 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 12,450 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.'s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,555,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 8.6% during the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 80,229 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,907,000 after purchasing an additional 6,377 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,913 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $721,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 80,577 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,283 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 32.6% in the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,314,131 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $73,427,000 after acquiring an additional 569,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 472.8% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,220 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP traded down $0.05 on Friday, reaching $35.72. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,774,488 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,686,418. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $37.03 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $35.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 0.93 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.97, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.57. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $39.31.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. Research 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 declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is 59.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on CNP shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Argus upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.04.

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.