Private Advisor Group LLC Sells 4,585 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Private Advisor Group LLC lowered its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 22.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,585 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $515,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 85,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,721,000 after buying an additional 2,069 shares during the period. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 98,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,121,000 after purchasing an additional 4,145 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 40,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 13,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,746 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $154,000 after purchasing an additional 699 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $34.57 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $34.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $32.61 and its 200-day moving average price is $30.69.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.55%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 55.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on CNP. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.65.

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.