Capital International Sarl Acquires 12,078 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Capital International Sarl increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 10.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 130,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,078 shares during the period. Capital International Sarl’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $4,154,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 18.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 38,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,243,000 after acquiring an additional 6,073 shares during the period. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 143,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,234,000 after purchasing an additional 2,789 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,930,000 after purchasing an additional 56,037 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.3% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after buying an additional 3,983 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $37.14 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s 50-day moving average is $35.22 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.63. 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 fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $37.70.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.37%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CNP shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Argus raised CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Guggenheim downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $34.46.

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.