BLB&B Advisors LLC Trims Stock Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

BLB&B Advisors LLC reduced its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 35,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,450 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $1,297,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Strs Ohio purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at $2,900,000. Amalgamated Bank increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 128,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,712,000 after buying an additional 1,032 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 407.0% in the second quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 2,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,000 after buying an additional 2,161 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at $222,000. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 31.6% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,859,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,765,000 after buying an additional 1,886,374 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CNP opened at $38.90 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.62, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s 50-day moving average is $38.63 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.76. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $28.57 and a 1-year high of $40.50.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.31 EPS. Analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Mizuho set a $42.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday. They set an “overweight” rating and a $44.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.50.

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.