Hsbc Holdings PLC Acquires 575,242 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Hsbc Holdings PLC lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 28.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,585,258 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 575,242 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.40% of CenterPoint Energy worth $82,027,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNP has been the topic of a number of research reports. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Friday. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a "buy" rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $35.79.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP traded down $0.17 on Tuesday, reaching $38.08. The company had a trading volume of 905,471 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,572,508. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $39.03. The company has a market cap of $24.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $35.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $32.99.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). The company 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 last year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is 59.06%.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

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.