Hartford Financial Management Inc. Sells 320 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Hartford Financial Management Inc. lowered its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 13.8% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 320 shares during the quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $63,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 566.5% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 1,744,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,330,000 after acquiring an additional 1,482,966 shares in the last quarter. Teilinger Capital Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,478,000. Zimmer Partners LP increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 98.1% during the 3rd quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,536,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,208,000 after purchasing an additional 760,956 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1,391.8% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 536,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,800,000 after buying an additional 500,425 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,231,000 after buying an additional 370,790 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.8 %

CNP stock opened at $32.88 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $33.12. The company has a market capitalization of $21.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.95. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $32.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $29.78. 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 (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.46.

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.