Mizuho Markets Americas LLC Takes $7.51 Million Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Mizuho Markets Americas LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 174,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,514,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 82,381,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,158,492,000 after purchasing an additional 719,803 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 58,286,690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,234,712,000 after purchasing an additional 6,794,535 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 20,941,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $802,916,000 after buying an additional 235,346 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,023,720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $650,189,000 after buying an additional 166,305 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth $343,925,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CNP shares. Evercore set a $45.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 25th. Truist Financial decreased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, June 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.38.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of CNP stock opened at $44.22 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.46. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $36.59 and a 1 year high of $45.22. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.28. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.58 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $2.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.98 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.38% and a return on equity of 10.56%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.44%.

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.