CI Investments Inc. Grows Stock Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

CI Investments Inc. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 14.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 685,933 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 88,345 shares during the quarter. CI Investments Inc. owned 0.10% of CenterPoint Energy worth $29,605,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,381,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,158,492,000 after purchasing an additional 719,803 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 58,286,690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,234,712,000 after purchasing an additional 6,794,535 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 20,941,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $802,916,000 after buying an additional 235,346 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,023,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $650,189,000 after buying an additional 166,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $343,925,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $43.71 on Thursday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $36.59 and a 52-week high of $45.22. The company has a quick ratio of 1.04, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96. The stock has a market cap of $28.60 billion, a PE ratio of 26.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $42.24.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 10.56%. The company had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a $0.24 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.44%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CNP shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $50.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, June 15th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.46.

About CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE: CNP) is a Houston-based regulated utility company that provides electric and natural gas delivery services and related infrastructure operations. The company’s principal activities center on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the greater Houston metropolitan area and the distribution of natural gas to customers across several states in the Midwest and South. As a vertically integrated utility, CenterPoint focuses on the reliable delivery of energy through owned and operated networks of lines, pipelines and associated facilities.

CenterPoint’s core businesses include regulated electric transmission and distribution services, regulated natural gas distribution, and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure.