Securian Asset Management Inc. Decreases Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Securian Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 1.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 427 shares during the period. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,250,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 3.1% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 864,175 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,309,000 after purchasing an additional 26,153 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 5.6% during the first quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 166,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,041,000 after purchasing an additional 8,914 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 472.8% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,007 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,452,000. Finally, Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 6.2% during the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 293,085 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,618,000 after purchasing an additional 17,101 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $39.61 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $28.57 and a 52-week high of $40.50. The stock has a market cap of $25.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.57. The business’s 50 day moving average is $38.51 and its 200 day moving average is $37.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.16% and a net margin of 10.42%.The company 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 earned $0.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Barclays upped their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price 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. Scotiabank upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Mizuho set a $42.00 target price on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.95.

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.