CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Position Reduced by Maple Brown Abbott Ltd

Maple Brown Abbott Ltd lessened its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 39.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 977,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 643,560 shares during the quarter. CenterPoint Energy makes up approximately 3.8% of Maple Brown Abbott Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $31,008,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CNP. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 566.5% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,744,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,482,966 shares in the last quarter. Teilinger Capital Ltd. acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $26,478,000. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 98.1% in the third quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,536,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,208,000 after buying an additional 760,956 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1,391.8% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 536,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,800,000 after acquiring an additional 500,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,231,000 after acquiring an additional 370,790 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have weighed in on CNP shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target 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, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.38.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of CNP stock opened at $32.37 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.70. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $33.12. 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 company has a market capitalization of $21.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm 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 $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.