Jennison Associates LLC Cuts Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Jennison Associates LLC decreased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 12.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 7,002,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 982,641 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $199,499,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% in the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Tobam acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $35,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $48,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CNP stock traded down $0.17 during trading on Monday, reaching $30.32. 5,403,959 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,479,085. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.42 and a 1-year high of $31.57. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $30.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.85. The firm has a market cap of $19.40 billion, a PE ratio of 21.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 11.03%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CNP. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. KeyCorp raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 20th. Scotiabank dropped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 26th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $623,792.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.