Tredje AP fonden Has $1.56 Million Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Tredje AP fonden cut its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 50.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 49,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 49,191 shares during the quarter. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,561,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of CNP. Atria Investments Inc boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 77.6% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 22,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $648,000 after buying an additional 9,619 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,441,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,422,000 after purchasing an additional 5,981 shares during the last quarter. Huntington National Bank raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 15.2% in the third quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,000 after purchasing an additional 556 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $604,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at about $2,564,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE CNP opened at $35.52 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $31.13. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $35.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. 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 released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. Research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.77.

CenterPoint Energy Company 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.