Sei Investments Co. decreased its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP – Free Report) by 60.1% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 291,024 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 438,587 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $8,291,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 24.5% during the fourth quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 8,030,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,436,000 after acquiring an additional 1,578,948 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,952,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $170,077,000 after acquiring an additional 46,232 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,402,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $154,354,000 after acquiring an additional 54,476 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 96.0% during the fourth quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,958,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $141,666,000 after acquiring an additional 2,428,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 22.2% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,990,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $114,001,000 after acquiring an additional 723,663 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
CenterPoint Energy Price Performance
CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $28.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.25. The company has a market capitalization of $18.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.92. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $30.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $28.88. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.42 and a 1 year high of $31.57.
CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.82 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.
CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th were issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.34%.
Insider Activity at CenterPoint Energy
In related news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of CenterPoint Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total value of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at $623,792.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts have commented on CNP shares. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 26th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.90.
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.
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