Advisors Asset Management Inc. Has $1.06 Million Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Advisors Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 36,069 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,849 shares during the quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,061,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Railway Pension Investments Ltd bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484,079 shares in the last quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $42,548,000. Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,188,000. Finally, Teilinger Capital Ltd. acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $26,478,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on CNP. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.00.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP opened at $32.49 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.17 billion, a PE ratio of 21.52, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $32.61.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.59%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.63%.

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.