Natixis Advisors L.P. Acquires 14,177 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Natixis Advisors L.P. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 4.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 306,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,177 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors L.P.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $8,759,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.7% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,239,922 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,242,000 after buying an additional 442,718 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $158,597,000 after purchasing an additional 105,404 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,402,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $154,354,000 after purchasing an additional 54,476 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,664,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,704,000 after purchasing an additional 46,149 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ClearBridge Investments Ltd boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 9.8% in the third quarter. ClearBridge Investments Ltd now owns 3,623,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $97,286,000 after buying an additional 324,078 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CenterPoint Energy

In related news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $623,792.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $29.46 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.85 billion, a PE ratio of 20.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.91. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $28.30 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $28.11. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.42 and a 12 month high of $31.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is currently 56.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI cut CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and increased their price target for the company from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down previously from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $30.18.

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.