Polymer Capital Management US LLC Makes New Investment in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 350,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,106,000. CenterPoint Energy comprises approximately 3.0% of Polymer Capital Management US LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. Polymer Capital Management US LLC owned about 0.05% of CenterPoint Energy as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,490,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $490,205,000 after acquiring an additional 406,832 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,009,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $147,387,000 after purchasing an additional 247,944 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $158,232,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,116,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,619,000 after buying an additional 160,154 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% in the fourth quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $108,153,000 after buying an additional 3,185,932 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock opened at $36.14 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.07. The company has a market capitalization of $23.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $38.25.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Barclays raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $34.46.

CenterPoint Energy Company 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.