Gabelli Funds LLC Buys 500 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Gabelli Funds LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 119,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Gabelli Funds LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $3,390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CNP. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 83,754,579 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,386,168,000 after buying an additional 865,120 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,030,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $229,436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,948 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,952,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $170,077,000 after acquiring an additional 46,232 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,402,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $154,354,000 after purchasing an additional 54,476 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 96.0% in the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,958,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,666,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,640 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, July 20th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.60.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock traded up $0.48 during trading on Friday, hitting $29.36. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,664,965 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,805,707. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.42 and a 52 week high of $31.57. The company has a market capitalization of $18.78 billion, a PE ratio of 20.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.25.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total value of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $623,792.26. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CenterPoint Energy 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.