CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC

Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC cut its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 97.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 33,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,559,962 shares during the quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,079,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth about $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of CNP stock opened at $33.71 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $32.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.75. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $34.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.97 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.61%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 55.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the subject of a number of research reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. 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 research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.65.

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.