CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by Inspire Investing LLC

Inspire Investing LLC decreased its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 68,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,738 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $302,070,000 after buying an additional 2,961,464 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% in the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $144,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,484,079 shares during the last quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $42,548,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $31,188,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNP has been the subject of several analyst reports. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 6th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $28.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $29.55.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $29.57 on Monday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $31.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a current ratio of 1.20 and a quick ratio of 0.99. The company has a market capitalization of $18.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.92. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $27.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $28.84.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.32 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.28 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 59.15%.

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.