ING Groep NV Decreases Stock Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

ING Groep NV cut its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 39.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 48,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 31,824 shares during the quarter. ING Groep NV’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,385,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 442,718 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $158,597,000 after acquiring an additional 105,404 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 54,476 shares in the last quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 3,664,835 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $104,704,000 after acquiring an additional 46,149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,634,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $103,840,000 after acquiring an additional 105,825 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The shares were 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. StockNews.com raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $33.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.36.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $30.41 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $19.45 billion, a PE ratio of 21.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.91. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $28.63 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.29. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.42 and a fifty-two week high of $31.43. The company has a quick ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 1.25 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.34%.

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.