CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Holdings Cut by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV lowered its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 74.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,139 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 65,023 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $702,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of CNP. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,484,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,104,000 after purchasing an additional 42,578 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $908,000. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after purchasing an additional 24,400 shares during the period. Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $265,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $705,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.4 %

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $34.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $22.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $34.44. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $32.38 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $30.40.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.58%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on CNP shares. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. 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 note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.