T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. Purchases 1,922,169 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 1,922,169 shares during the period. CenterPoint Energy makes up about 0.9% of T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned about 7.16% of CenterPoint Energy worth $1,480,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CNP. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,449,927 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,774,941,000 after acquiring an additional 334,631 shares in 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 worth $1,446,036,000 after purchasing an additional 27,799,744 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in 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 worth $490,205,000 after buying an additional 406,832 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $158,232,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,116,586 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $130,619,000 after buying an additional 160,154 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:CNP traded down $0.05 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $38.14. The stock had a trading volume of 1,413,878 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,576,851. The business's 50 day moving average is $35.63 and its 200-day moving average is $32.93. The company has a market cap of $24.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $38.36. 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 (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). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued 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 2.31%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday. Argus upgraded CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Guggenheim cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays raised CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.79.

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.