Capital Research Global Investors Has $1.45 Billion Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 156.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 27,799,744 shares during the quarter. Capital Research Global Investors owned 6.99% of CenterPoint Energy worth $1,446,036,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $164,000 after purchasing an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 13,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 432 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $309,000 after buying an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 482 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on CNP. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Argus raised shares of CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.46.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP opened at $37.14 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $35.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.63. The company has a market cap of $24.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $37.70.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. Research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

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.