CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by ClearBridge Investments Ltd

ClearBridge Investments Ltd cut its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 11.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,947,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 240,056 shares during the quarter. CenterPoint Energy makes up 1.6% of ClearBridge Investments Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. ClearBridge Investments Ltd’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $61,791,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 110.5% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 5,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 2,636 shares during the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,924,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,804,000 after purchasing an additional 47,305 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 809.7% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 545,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,355,000 after buying an additional 485,302 shares in the last quarter. Allstate Corp purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $616,000. Finally, DnB Asset Management AS increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 342,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,868,000 after buying an additional 21,015 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.6 %

CNP stock opened at $36.26 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $33.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $31.73. 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 company has a market cap of $23.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $36.40.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.46 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CNP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays lifted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $33.77.

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.