Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. Has $147.52 Million Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. cut its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 7.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,761,812 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 391,063 shares during the period. CenterPoint Energy comprises about 1.9% of Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. owned approximately 0.74% of CenterPoint Energy worth $147,521,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 60.3% during the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tobam acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CNP. Bank of America started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.55.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of CNP stock opened at $29.10 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $31.57. The stock has a market cap of $18.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49, a PEG ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $27.49 and its 200-day moving average is $28.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.20.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. The firm had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 56.34%.

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.