CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Bought by Norinchukin Bank The

Norinchukin Bank The grew its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 11.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 30,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,057 shares during the period. Norinchukin Bank The’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.0% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 143,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,234,000 after acquiring an additional 2,789 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 7.1% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 847,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,930,000 after acquiring an additional 56,037 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 53.3% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 11,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $364,000 after purchasing an additional 3,983 shares during the period. Finally, Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 13,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 676 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $36.48 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $35.30 and its 200-day simple moving average is $32.70. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $37.70. The firm has a market cap of $23.81 billion, a PE ratio of 22.94, 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 (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. As a group, equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.41%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CNP shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Argus upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $34.46.

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.