740,429 Shares in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Acquired by Stack Financial Management Inc

Stack Financial Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 740,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,154,000. CenterPoint Energy accounts for approximately 2.4% of Stack Financial Management Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Stack Financial Management Inc owned approximately 0.12% of CenterPoint Energy at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 175.3% in the 3rd quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,618,686 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $97,162,000 after buying an additional 2,304,183 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,239,922 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,242,000 after buying an additional 442,718 shares during the period. UBS Group AG boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,540,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,361,000 after buying an additional 420,010 shares during the period. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 213.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tudor Investment Corp Et Al now owns 556,730 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,948,000 after buying an additional 379,276 shares during the period. Finally, ClearBridge Investments Ltd boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 3,623,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $97,286,000 after buying an additional 324,078 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on CNP shares. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.18.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP traded down $0.38 on Friday, hitting $28.96. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,027,076 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,201,968. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.42 and a 12-month high of $31.43. The company has a market capitalization of $18.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $28.02 and a 200-day moving average of $28.00.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. The business had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.55% and a return on equity of 10.44%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.28 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

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.