Farther Finance Advisors LLC Sells 1,175 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lowered its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 13,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,175 shares during the quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $396,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $29.37 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $28.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $29.03. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $31.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. The company has a market cap of $19.14 billion, a PE ratio of 19.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 52.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on CNP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.09.

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.