Creative Planning Has $1.84 Million Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Creative Planning cut its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 15.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 62,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,461 shares during the quarter. Creative Planning’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,841,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $33,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% during 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 period. Finally, Tobam acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter valued at $35,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $29.91.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $29.75 on Tuesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $28.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.99. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $31.57. The company has a market capitalization of $19.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 EPS. Analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.82%. 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 dividend payout ratio is 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.