Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Increases Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 619,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 37,027 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $22,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,061,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,900,612,000 after buying an additional 671,868 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.9% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,934,611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $215,011,000 after buying an additional 54,596 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 5,408,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $195,938,000 after buying an additional 42,536 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 50.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,118,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $185,434,000 after purchasing an additional 1,709,682 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 58.4% in the first quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 4,385,632 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $158,891,000 after purchasing an additional 1,616,181 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $39.57 on Thursday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $28.57 and a one year high of $40.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $38.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.83 billion, a PE ratio of 27.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by ($0.15). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 9.16%. The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.20 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.36 EPS. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.740-1.760 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on CNP. Mizuho boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $37.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $42.00 price objective on the stock. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $38.86.

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.