CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Purchased by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 48.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,240 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $361,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital International Investors increased its stake 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 worth $2,774,941,000 after purchasing an additional 334,631 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,480,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,922,169 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,490,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $490,205,000 after purchasing an additional 406,832 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 7.9% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,880,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $186,573,000 after purchasing an additional 431,260 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.8%

CNP opened at $36.21 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $36.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.14. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $39.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.93. The firm has a market cap of $23.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) 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 9.74% and a net margin of 10.80%. The company had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised CenterPoint Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. Argus upgraded CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy 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.