CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Stake Lessened by BLB&B Advisors LLC

BLB&B Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 38,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 335 shares during the quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,226,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,231,000 after purchasing an additional 370,790 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 5.2% during the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,009,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $147,387,000 after buying an additional 247,944 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,956,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $116,398,000 after acquiring an additional 110,905 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,177,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,478,000 after acquiring an additional 65,139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,863,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $32.38 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.44, a PEG ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $32.03 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $33.12.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on CNP. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.46.

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.