Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 11,242 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lowered its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 164,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,242 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $4,850,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth $33,000. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $33,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% in the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CNP. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.09.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP stock opened at $29.52 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $31.57. The firm has a market cap of $18.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79, a PEG ratio of 2.58 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.99.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 10.81%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.85%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 59.15%.

CenterPoint Energy 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.