Louisbourg Investments Inc. Sells 13,500 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Louisbourg Investments Inc. cut its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 8.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 141,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 13,500 shares during the quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $4,477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Cigna Investments Inc. New acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Savant Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth $252,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 275,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,757,000 after buying an additional 14,114 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 13.6% in the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $382,000 after buying an additional 1,442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 71,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,264,000 after acquiring an additional 1,950 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $32.41 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $32.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.99. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1-year low of $25.41 and a 1-year high of $33.12. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company has a market cap of $21.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.46, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 55.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on CNP. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective 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. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $31.46.

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.