Rafferty Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Key Points

• Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 19.9%, selling 14,526 shares and now holding 58,647 shares valued at approximately $2.12 million.
• Several hedge funds, including Jump Financial LLC, increased their positions in CenterPoint Energy, with Jump Financial raising its stake by 130.3%, now owning about 22,976 shares.
• CenterPoint Energy analysts have mixed ratings, with six analysts giving a Buy rating, eight a Hold rating, and a current average price target of $37.71.

Rafferty Asset Management LLC decreased its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 19.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,647 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 14,526 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC's holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,125,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $254,000. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $783,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 24,543 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $779,000 after acquiring an additional 1,674 shares in the last quarter. Ariel Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $46,281,000. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth $258,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on CNP. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Mizuho set a $39.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Barclays raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.71.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $37.34. The stock had a trading volume of 5,568,857 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,226,441. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.32 and a 1 year high of $39.39. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $37.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.70. The stock has a market cap of $24.37 billion, a PE ratio of 26.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

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 business had revenue of $1.94 billion during 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 previous year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.740-1.760 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.