Sei Investments Co. Increases Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Sei Investments Co. lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 363,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 12,401 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $11,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1,431.1% in the 4th quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 3,408,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $108,153,000 after purchasing an additional 3,185,932 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $97,348,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 566.5% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,744,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,482,966 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 98.1% in the 3rd quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,536,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,208,000 after acquiring an additional 760,956 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,231,000 after purchasing an additional 370,790 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock opened at $36.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $36.40. The stock has a market cap of $23.66 billion, a PE ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $33.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $31.73.

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 business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CNP shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price on the stock. Guggenheim downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI raised CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.77.

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.