CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC

Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lessened its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,472,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 97,517 shares during the quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $141,900,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 58.9% in the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus upgraded CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.3%

NYSE:CNP opened at $37.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $39.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.23 billion, a PE ratio of 23.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. The business’s 50-day moving average is $36.98 and its two-hundred day moving average is $33.96.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.37%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.06%.

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.