Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 179,236 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 35.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 325,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 179,236 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $10,327,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% during the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $60,000 after acquiring an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% during the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,780,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.2% in the third quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 40,054 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,178,000 after purchasing an additional 489 shares during the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group raised shares of 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 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. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.27.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.6 %

CNP opened at $32.60 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $31.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.62. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $33.00. The company has a market cap of $21.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 EPS. Analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.63%.

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.