CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Position Boosted by Bleakley Financial Group LLC

Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 17.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 19,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,009 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $631,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,231,000 after acquiring an additional 370,790 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 5.2% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,009,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $147,387,000 after purchasing an additional 247,944 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,956,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $116,398,000 after purchasing an additional 110,905 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,177,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,478,000 after purchasing an additional 65,139 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,863,000 after purchasing an additional 24,400 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CNP shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. Barclays upped 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. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.46.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.2 %

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $32.38 on Monday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $33.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.10 billion, a PE ratio of 21.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.03 and a 200-day simple moving average of $29.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 1.11 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 55.63%.

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.