CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Stock Position Lowered by National Pension Service

National Pension Service trimmed its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 877,520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 19,817 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $27,844,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,231,000 after buying an additional 370,790 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,009,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $147,387,000 after acquiring an additional 247,944 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,956,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $116,398,000 after acquiring an additional 110,905 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,177,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,478,000 after acquiring an additional 65,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after purchasing an additional 24,400 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on CNP shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.65.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $34.38 on Friday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.59. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $34.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $22.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 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, March 13th. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

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.