CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by National Pension Service

National Pension Service reduced its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 877,520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 19,817 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned about 0.13% of CenterPoint Energy worth $27,844,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth about $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $52,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CNP shares. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $34.38 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $34.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $32.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $30.59. The company has a market capitalization of $22.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. As a group, analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.56%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.35%.

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.