Bleakley Financial Group LLC Sells 3,959 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Bleakley Financial Group LLC lowered its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 19.0% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,864 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,959 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $496,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 452 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $29.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $19.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $31.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.99, a current ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $28.21 and a 200-day moving average of $28.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.32 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.91 billion during 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 last year, the firm posted $0.28 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.15%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $29.91.

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.