California Public Employees Retirement System Boosts Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

California Public Employees Retirement System grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,664,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 46,149 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $104,704,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 302.6% in the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 159,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,565,000 after acquiring an additional 120,085 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 27.0% in the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,209,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,559,000 after acquiring an additional 256,820 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth $399,000. UBS Group AG increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 37.5% in the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,540,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,361,000 after acquiring an additional 420,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 32.5% in the 4th quarter. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA now owns 416,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,912,000 after acquiring an additional 102,271 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of CNP stock opened at $28.73 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $27.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $27.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. The stock has a market cap of $18.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.42 and a twelve month high of $31.43.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.32. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.83 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.55% and a return on equity of 10.44%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.