CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by Millennium Management LLC

Millennium Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 32.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,098,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,003,043 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC owned 0.33% of CenterPoint Energy worth $65,013,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of CNP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961,464 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 96.0% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,958,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,666,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,640 shares during the period. Railway Pension Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $63,758,000. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484,079 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $29.10 on Monday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $27.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $28.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.62 billion, a PE ratio of 20.49, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $31.57.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets restated a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of 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 research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.55.

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.