Nuveen LLC Invests $92.03 Million in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC has made a significant investment by acquiring 2,540,021 shares of CenterPoint Energy, valued at approximately $92 million, representing around 0.39% of the company.
• Several institutional investors, including Private Trust Co. and Whittier Trust Co., have also increased their stakes in CenterPoint Energy, underscoring strong interest in the company as institutional ownership reaches 91.77%.
• Research firms have upgraded their target prices for CenterPoint Energy, with an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.38, reflecting positive growth forecasts despite a recent earnings miss.

Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,540,021 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $92,025,000. Nuveen LLC owned approximately 0.39% of CenterPoint Energy as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,446,036,000 after buying an additional 27,799,744 shares during the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $164,350,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,480,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,169 shares in the last quarter. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $59,702,000. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 58.4% in the 1st quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,385,632 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $158,891,000 after acquiring an additional 1,616,181 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CNP. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. Barclays boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.38.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 1.0%

NYSE:CNP traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.05. The company had a trading volume of 4,993,095 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,830,248. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.03 and a 200 day moving average of $36.23. The company has a market cap of $24.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.58. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.65 and a 1 year high of $39.39.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.15). The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

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