CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by ING Groep NV

ING Groep NV trimmed its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 74.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,139 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 65,023 shares during the period. ING Groep NV’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 85,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,721,000 after purchasing an additional 2,069 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 98,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,121,000 after purchasing an additional 4,145 shares in the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 5.0% in the 4th quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 40,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,344,000 after purchasing an additional 1,955 shares in the last quarter. Americana Partners LLC increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Americana Partners LLC now owns 13,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $440,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 17.3% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 4,746 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $154,000 after purchasing an additional 699 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP stock opened at $34.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $34.44. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $32.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $30.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.48, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95.

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

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders 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 represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.58%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.35%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. 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. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 target price for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.65.

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.