Bessemer Group Inc. Boosts Stock Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 35,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 930 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Curat Global LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter valued at $25,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 782 shares in the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Barclays upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $40.00 target price (up previously from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE CNP opened at $36.41 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.59. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $39.31. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $37.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $34.96. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 10.80%. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.42%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.06%.

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.