Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Buys 108,255 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 10.2%, acquiring an additional 108,255 shares, bringing its total ownership to approximately 1.16 million shares valued at $42.2 million.
• Several institutional investors, including Curat Global LLC and Harbor Investment Advisory LLC, have recently acquired new stakes or significantly increased their holdings in CenterPoint Energy.
• CenterPoint Energy's quarterly earnings missed expectations, reporting $0.29 earnings per share against a consensus estimate of $0.44, while also declaring a $0.22 quarterly dividend set to be paid on September 11th.

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 10.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,164,648 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 108,255 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. owned about 0.18% of CenterPoint Energy worth $42,195,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter worth $25,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 201.5% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Motco lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 107.8% in the 1st quarter. Motco now owns 1,039 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen lowered CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.38.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.1%

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $38.83 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $39.39. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $36.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $36.05. 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 stock has a market cap of $25.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.15, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.58.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted 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 company had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.20 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 9.16%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.36 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.