Victory Capital Management Inc. Lowers Stock Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 5.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 694,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 40,984 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $21,504,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 185.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 235,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,287,000 after purchasing an additional 152,878 shares in the last quarter. FORA Capital LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,625,000. Bank of Nova Scotia lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 305,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,735,000 after purchasing an additional 60,223 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 837.7% in the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 210,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,985,000 after purchasing an additional 187,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,109,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $27.59 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $17.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.20. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $27.68 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.65. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $31.57.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.28 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 15th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, August 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on CNP. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Sunday, August 25th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $32.00 to $28.00 in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.36.

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.