Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 384 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Sentry Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 384 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $75,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CNP. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 56.8% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 20,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $612,000 after purchasing an additional 7,538 shares during the period. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 36,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 33.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 41,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,199,000 after acquiring an additional 10,346 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,780,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Americana Partners LLC grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 89.5% in the 3rd quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 12,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 6,100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CNP opened at $33.80 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $30.50. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $34.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.25, 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, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. Equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.60%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.35%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on CNP. 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. UBS Group upgraded 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 research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.