New York Life Investment Management LLC Reduces Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

New York Life Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 89,345 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 673 shares during the period. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 302.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 159,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,565,000 after purchasing an additional 120,085 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 27.0% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,209,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,559,000 after purchasing an additional 256,820 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $399,000. UBS Group AG lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 37.5% during the 3rd quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,540,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,361,000 after purchasing an additional 420,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 32.5% during the 4th quarter. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA now owns 416,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,912,000 after purchasing an additional 102,271 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $623,792.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $29.45 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.84 billion, a PE ratio of 20.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.91. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $28.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $28.07. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.42 and a 12 month high of $31.43.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 11.03%. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 56.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on CNP shares. Evercore ISI cut CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Barclays upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Mizuho restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 target price (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank decreased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.18.

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.