Tredje AP fonden Has $1.56 Million Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Tredje AP fonden decreased its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 50.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 49,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 49,191 shares during the period. Tredje AP fonden’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,561,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,231,000 after buying an additional 370,790 shares during the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.2% during the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,009,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $147,387,000 after buying an additional 247,944 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,116,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,619,000 after buying an additional 160,154 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,177,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,478,000 after buying an additional 65,139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $97,348,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $35.52 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.18 billion, a PE ratio of 22.34, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $33.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $35.64.

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, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.48%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CNP shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $32.77.

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.