Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Boosts Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Key Points

• Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.8%, owning a total of 198,202 shares valued at $7.18 million after acquiring an additional 10,860 shares.
• Research analysts have set mixed ratings on CenterPoint Energy, with an overall average rating of "Hold" and a price target of $37.38, as some analysts lowered and others increased their price objectives for the stock.
• The company reported Q2 earnings of $0.29 per share, missing estimates by $0.15, with revenues of $1.94 billion compared to a consensus of $2.20 billion.

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 5.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 198,202 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,860 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.'s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $7,181,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital International Investors lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,449,927 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,774,941,000 after purchasing an additional 334,631 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,061,059 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,900,612,000 after purchasing an additional 671,868 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 1,922,169 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,446,036,000 after purchasing an additional 27,799,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 7.9% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,880,015 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $186,573,000 after purchasing an additional 431,260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on CNP shares. Mizuho set a $39.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wall Street Zen cut CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.38.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.0%

CenterPoint Energy stock traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading 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 stock's 50 day moving average price is $37.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $36.26. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.65 and a 12 month high of $39.39. The company has a market capitalization of $24.84 billion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.58.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.15). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.16% and a net margin of 10.42%. The company had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.20 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. 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.