Kentucky Retirement Systems Sells 2,805 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Kentucky Retirement Systems lowered its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,805 shares during the period. Kentucky Retirement Systems’ holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,336,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter worth $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on CNP. Bank of America started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. KeyCorp lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Two 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.09.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $31.15 on Tuesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $31.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $29.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $29.10. The firm has a market cap of $20.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.70%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.63%.

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.