CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by New York State Common Retirement Fund

New York State Common Retirement Fund lowered its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 518,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 66,996 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned about 0.08% of CenterPoint Energy worth $14,819,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,239,922 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,242,000 after purchasing an additional 442,718 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $158,597,000 after buying an additional 105,404 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,664,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $104,704,000 after buying an additional 46,149 shares in the last quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 9.8% in the 3rd quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 3,623,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $97,286,000 after buying an additional 324,078 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,528,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $94,747,000 after acquiring an additional 63,804 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.3 %

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $29.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $18.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.42 and a 1 year high of $31.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $28.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a current ratio of 0.78.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.83 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.44% and a net margin of 10.55%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.74%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and set a $29.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Evercore ISI cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.18.

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.