Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Boosts Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 578,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,946 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System owned 0.09% of CenterPoint Energy worth $16,538,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 302.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 159,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,565,000 after acquiring an additional 120,085 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 27.0% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,209,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,559,000 after acquiring an additional 256,820 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $399,000. UBS Group AG lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 37.5% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,540,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,361,000 after buying an additional 420,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA now owns 416,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,912,000 after acquiring an additional 102,271 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE CNP traded up $0.24 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $29.56. 2,140,832 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,264,050. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.42 and a 12-month high of $31.43. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $28.22 and a 200-day moving average price of $28.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.25.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.34%.

Insider Transactions at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at $623,792.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank decreased their price objective 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, April 22nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.18.

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.