Private Advisor Group LLC Sells 4,585 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Private Advisor Group LLC reduced its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 22.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 16,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,585 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,780,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% in the 4th quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $604,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 40,054 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,178,000 after acquiring an additional 489 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $34.57 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $32.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $30.69. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $34.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 55.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on CNP. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.65.

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.