CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Purchased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 42,578 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $47,104,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth about $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on CNP. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.46.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of CNP stock opened at $32.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.11 billion, a PE ratio of 21.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $33.12. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $32.04 and a two-hundred day moving average of $29.97.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.28%.

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.