Energy Income Partners LLC Cuts Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Energy Income Partners LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 14.8% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,144,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 373,666 shares during the quarter. CenterPoint Energy accounts for about 1.5% of Energy Income Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest position. Energy Income Partners LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $78,807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Engineers Gate Manager LP purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $211,000. Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth about $13,022,000. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 12.9% in the second quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 31,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,155,000 after acquiring an additional 3,595 shares during the period. Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at about $1,780,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 29.7% during the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 98,670 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,591,000 after acquiring an additional 22,570 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $37.80 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.23 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.38. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $30.59 and a 1 year high of $40.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.68 billion, a PE ratio of 23.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.56.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.31 earnings per share. Analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 65,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,546,354.91. The trade was a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on CNP shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. KeyCorp upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $41.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, December 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $42.18.

CenterPoint Energy Company 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.