150,747 Shares in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Bought by Fisher Funds Management LTD

Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 150,747 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,764,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CNP. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,104,000 after purchasing an additional 42,578 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $908,000. ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,564,000. Swiss National Bank raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,863,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares during the period. Finally, Custom Index Systems LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth $265,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP opened at $34.32 on Monday. 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 has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.59, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a fifty day moving average of $32.34 and a 200 day moving average of $30.35. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $34.39.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.65.

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.