Rakuten Investment Management Inc. Buys New Shares in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 34,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,350,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $254,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 76,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,757,000 after acquiring an additional 10,277 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 69,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,525,000 after purchasing an additional 3,821 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 11.5% in the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 13,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 1,384 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Woodline Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 55,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,995,000 after purchasing an additional 15,922 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays dropped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $41.00 to $38.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Mizuho set a $42.00 target price on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “underperform” rating and set a $37.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $41.82.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $240,746.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 65,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,546,354.91. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:CNP opened at $38.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.29 billion, a PE ratio of 24.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.59. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $31.76 and a 52-week high of $40.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $38.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $38.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 19th. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.70%.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

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.