Securian Asset Management Inc. Sells 959 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Securian Asset Management Inc. cut its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 959 shares during the quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,111,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Atria Investments Inc lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 77.6% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 22,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $648,000 after acquiring an additional 9,619 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,441,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,422,000 after acquiring an additional 5,981 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 15.2% in the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 4,205 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,000 after acquiring an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $604,000 after acquiring an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ING Groep NV bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,564,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 2.6 %

NYSE:CNP opened at $35.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $35.64. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $33.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $31.13.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.48%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 20th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on CNP shares. Barclays increased 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 started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI raised CenterPoint Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $32.77.

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.