Cwm LLC Sells 689 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Cwm LLC decreased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 6.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,738 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 689 shares during the period. Cwm LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $316,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961,464 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% during the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,570,000 after buying an additional 1,484,079 shares during the last quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,548,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth $31,188,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on CNP shares. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. StockNews.com lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $29.91.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $30.09 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $28.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $28.89. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $31.57. The company has a market capitalization of $19.25 billion, a PE ratio of 21.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.99.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 12.28% and a return on equity of 10.81%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.15%.

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.