Raiffeisen Bank International AG Makes New $333,000 Investment in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Raiffeisen Bank International AG purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $333,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Merit Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 13,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $415,000 after buying an additional 1,079 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 20,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $657,000 after acquiring an additional 721 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% during the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 19,345 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth $254,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $37.59 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $24.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.80 and its 200 day moving average is $33.77. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $39.31.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The company had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on CNP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Argus upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $35.79.

About CenterPoint Energy

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.