Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. Buys 17,576 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 8.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 233,372 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 17,576 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $7,405,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 334,631 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,922,169 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 27,799,744 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,490,728 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $490,205,000 after purchasing an additional 406,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $158,232,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $35.79.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP traded down $0.23 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $38.56. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,201,886 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,569,328. The company has a market cap of $25.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $33.07. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $39.43.

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

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.28%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 59.06%.

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.