CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 386,965 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,668 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $11,385,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 8.3% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $311,000 after buying an additional 809 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.5% during the 3rd quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 18,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 628 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 94,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,772,000 after acquiring an additional 8,534 shares in the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 7.5% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 8,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $250,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter valued at $2,564,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $31.57 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $20.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.91, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.92. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $29.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $31.68.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 52.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNP has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.09.

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.