Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 49,392 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Prudential Financial Inc. trimmed its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 12.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 348,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 49,392 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. owned about 0.05% of CenterPoint Energy worth $11,065,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of CNP opened at $36.26 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.71. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The stock has a market cap of $23.66 billion, a PE ratio of 22.80, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $36.40.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on CNP. UBS Group raised CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $33.77.

CenterPoint Energy 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.