Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Raises Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 56,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 950 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,611,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Moors & Cabot Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 52,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,413,000 after buying an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Cornercap Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 40,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,166,000 after buying an additional 406 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 10,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% in the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avantax Advisory Services Inc. lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Avantax Advisory Services Inc. now owns 11,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after purchasing an additional 573 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and upped their target price for the company from $29.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.18.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE CNP opened at $29.07 on Thursday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.42 and a one year high of $31.43. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $27.99 and its 200 day moving average price is $27.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.38, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.32. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.55% and a return on equity of 10.44%. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.28 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

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.