Wellington Management Group LLP Boosts Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 22.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,990,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 723,663 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 0.63% of CenterPoint Energy worth $114,001,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of CNP. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $48,000. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 73.1% during the fourth quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 2,094 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 884 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 26.1% during the fourth quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $68,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:CNP opened at $31.28 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $29.66 and a 200 day moving average of $28.71. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.42 and a 52 week high of $31.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, June 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 28th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.80.

Insider Activity at CenterPoint Energy

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $623,792.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About CenterPoint Energy

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.