CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Acquired by Cohen & Steers Inc.

Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 23.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,206,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 420,605 shares during the quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $70,000,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Quadrant Capital Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $164,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 416 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 13,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $309,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $36.56 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $34.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.40. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $37.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Evercore ISI raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Barclays upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.