Vestcor Inc Trims Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Vestcor Inc lessened its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 15.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,553 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $588,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Rothschild Investment LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth $36,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 459.0% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,554 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 1,276 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the topic of several analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. Bank of America initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered 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. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. Finally, UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.27.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 1.7 %

CNP stock opened at $31.95 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $33.00. The business’s 50-day moving average is $30.59 and its 200 day moving average is $29.39. 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 stock has a market cap of $20.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.96.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 55.63%.

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.