Royal Bank of Canada Lowers Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Royal Bank of Canada reduced its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 20.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 586,653 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 149,841 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada owned 0.09% of CenterPoint Energy worth $18,614,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 58.9% in the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CNP has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays raised CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Argus raised CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE CNP traded down $0.04 during trading on Thursday, hitting $37.15. 4,343,530 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,616,807. The company has a market capitalization of $24.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $39.31.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 59.06%.

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.