Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Increases Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio grew its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 34.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 309,063 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 78,969 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $9,807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 80,577 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,283 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $47,104,000 after purchasing an additional 42,578 shares during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 32.6% during 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 purchasing an additional 569,389 shares in the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth $265,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 57.1% in the fourth quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 34,577 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,097,000 after buying an additional 12,563 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP stock traded down $0.08 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $37.10. 7,581,135 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,629,015. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $39.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $37.12 and its 200-day simple moving average is $34.18. The firm has a market cap of $24.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.33, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63.

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

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is currently 59.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CNP shares. Barclays raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus 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.