Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 384 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 384 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $75,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth about $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at about $52,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on CNP shares. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $33.80 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $32.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.50. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $34.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a PE ratio of 21.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. Equities analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.60%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.35%.

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.