CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP Position Reduced by BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC

BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC reduced its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 70.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 49,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 117,011 shares during the period. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CNP. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $313,456,000. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 31.6% during the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,859,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,765,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886,374 shares during the period. Millennium Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2,845.6% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,938,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $70,222,000 after purchasing an additional 1,872,429 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 50.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,118,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $185,434,000 after buying an additional 1,709,682 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3,842.1% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,609,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $59,135,000 after buying an additional 1,568,714 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CenterPoint Energy

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 65,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,546,354.91. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CNP. Wall Street Zen raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.18.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $37.80 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $38.06. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.59 and a 52 week high of $40.50. The stock has a market cap of $24.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.92, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.51.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.31 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 20th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.70%.

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.