CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by Daiwa Securities Group Inc.

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. decreased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 104,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,029 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,985,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $94,750,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 96.0% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,958,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,666,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,640 shares during the last quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 391.0% in the 4th quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,314,797 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $66,134,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843,333 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% during the 4th quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,030,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,436,000 after purchasing an additional 1,578,948 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stack Financial Management Inc acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $21,154,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In related news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at $623,792.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 26th. KeyCorp upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced 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 report on Monday, April 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.00.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP traded down $0.25 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $30.07. 770,351 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,450,556. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.42 and a fifty-two week high of $31.57. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $28.85. The firm has a market cap of $19.24 billion, a PE ratio of 21.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.92.

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

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.34%.

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.