Empowered Funds LLC Makes New Investment in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Empowered Funds LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 35,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,559,000.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $254,000. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 15.6% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 76,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,757,000 after buying an additional 10,277 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 69,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,525,000 after acquiring an additional 3,821 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 40.7% during the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 55,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,995,000 after acquiring an additional 15,922 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 12.3% in the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 9,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $348,000 after acquiring an additional 1,053 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CNP. Wolfe Research reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $49.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Wall Street Zen upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, June 15th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, 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 note on Thursday, July 16th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.36.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of CNP stock opened at $39.94 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $42.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $42.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a current ratio of 1.12. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $36.60 and a twelve month high of $45.26. The company has a market capitalization of $26.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.49, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.46.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.37 by $0.03. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 11.10% and a net margin of 11.61%.The firm had revenue of $2.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.12 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.29 earnings per share. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 1.890-1.910 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.24 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 20th. This represents a $0.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.23. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 56.47%.

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.