CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Purchased by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 1.8% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 582,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,225 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $21,117,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,171,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $151,119,000 after acquiring an additional 54,506 shares in the last quarter. ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter valued at $1,787,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $63,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,061,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,900,612,000 after acquiring an additional 671,868 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 58.4% in the first quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,385,632 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $158,891,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616,181 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $38.60 on Thursday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $36.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.94. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.20 billion, a PE ratio of 26.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.58. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $39.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.61.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.15). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 9.16%. The business had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.36 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors 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 yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNP has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Scotiabank increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $37.38.

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.