CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Stake Trimmed by Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada trimmed 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 Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund 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 SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 58.9% during the fourth quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on CNP. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, May 19th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock traded down $0.11 during trading on Friday, hitting $37.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,984,318 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,616,571. The business has a 50 day moving average of $37.15 and a 200 day moving average of $34.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $39.31.

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

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is 59.06%.

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.