Anchor Investment Management LLC Has $259,000 Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Anchor Investment Management LLC cut its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 37.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,000 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after acquiring an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.8 %

CNP stock opened at $30.53 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.57 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.75. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $31.57. 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 company has a market cap of $19.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.92.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.15%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CNP. StockNews.com upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 28th. Bank of America began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.