Stack Financial Management Inc Makes New $21.15 Million Investment in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Stack Financial Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 740,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $21,154,000. CenterPoint Energy comprises about 2.4% of Stack Financial Management Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 634.9% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $80,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on CNP shares. Evercore ISI cut CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Mizuho reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.18.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE CNP traded down $0.38 on Friday, hitting $28.96. 1,027,076 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,201,968. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $28.02 and a 200-day moving average of $28.00. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.42 and a 52 week high of $31.43. The stock has a market cap of $18.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.32. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 10.55%. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. Analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

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.