National Pension Service Sells 29,144 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

National Pension Service decreased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,013,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 29,144 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $29,228,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Private Advisor Group LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $440,000. Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 59.0% in the 1st quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 14,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $452,000 after acquiring an additional 5,475 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 28.5% in the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,585,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,208,000 after acquiring an additional 572,884 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 9.0% in the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 32,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $988,000 after acquiring an additional 2,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. increased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 59.3% in the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 738,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $22,615,000 after acquiring an additional 274,696 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 90.28% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $29.33 on Friday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $29.36 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.66. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.03 and a 12-month high of $33.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02. The company has a market cap of $18.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.30, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.87.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 17th. The utilities provider reported $0.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.29 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $2.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.29 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 11.21%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $33.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, March 6th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a research note on Monday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy to $35.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $30.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $32.78.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

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CenterPoint Energy, Inc is a holding company, which engages in the business of power generation and distribution. It operates through the following segments: CenterPoint Energy, Houston Electric, and CERC. The CenterPoint Energy segment consists of electric transmission and distribution services in the Texas gulf coast area in the ERCOT region and electric transmission and distribution services primarily to southwestern Indiana and includes power generation and wholesale power operations in the MISO region.