CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 4.1% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 923,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 39,255 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $39,853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $343,925,000. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 58,286,690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,234,712,000 after acquiring an additional 6,794,535 shares during the period. UBS Group AG raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 31.3% in the 4th quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 7,261,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $278,390,000 after acquiring an additional 1,728,865 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,722,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $296,096,000 after acquiring an additional 1,256,993 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 85.5% in the 3rd quarter. Merewether Investment Management LP now owns 2,493,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $96,748,000 after acquiring an additional 1,149,637 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on CNP shares. Evercore set a $45.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, May 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group set a $50.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, BTIG Research initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.31.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of CNP stock opened at $43.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.96, a quick ratio of 1.04 and a current ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $28.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $43.01 and a 200 day moving average price of $42.12. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $36.59 and a fifty-two week high of $45.22.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.58 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.98 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.56% and a net margin of 11.38%.During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.53 earnings per share. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.890-1.910 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 20th will be given a dividend of $0.24 per share. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. This represents a $0.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.44%.

About CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE: CNP) is a Houston-based regulated utility company that provides electric and natural gas delivery services and related infrastructure operations. The company’s principal activities center on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the greater Houston metropolitan area and the distribution of natural gas to customers across several states in the Midwest and South. As a vertically integrated utility, CenterPoint focuses on the reliable delivery of energy through owned and operated networks of lines, pipelines and associated facilities.

CenterPoint’s core businesses include regulated electric transmission and distribution services, regulated natural gas distribution, and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure.