Pitcairn Co. Cuts Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Pitcairn Co. cut its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,084 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 705 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $637,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $378,000 after buying an additional 416 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 13,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares in the last quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC now owns 9,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $309,000 after purchasing an additional 461 shares in the last quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 53.0% during the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 482 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 40,054 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,178,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $34.46.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $36.14 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $37.70. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $34.26 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $32.01. The company has a market cap of $23.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.73, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92.

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

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.