Boston Partners Sells 3,851,734 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Key Points

• Boston Partners has reduced its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 18.1%, now holding approximately 17.46 million shares worth about $633 million.
• CenterPoint Energy has reported a quarterly EPS of $0.29, falling short of analysts' expectations of $0.44, with revenues of $1.94 billion compared to expected $2.20 billion.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 2.3% for shareholders.

Boston Partners lessened its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 18.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,458,846 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,851,734 shares during the period. Boston Partners owned approximately 2.67% of CenterPoint Energy worth $633,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Curat Global LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,000. CoreCap Advisors LLC grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 58.9% during the 4th quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 1,079 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 201.5% during the 1st quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC now owns 1,034 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CNP shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Scotiabank increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $37.38.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 1.0%

CenterPoint Energy stock traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $38.05. 4,993,095 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,830,248. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.61, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.58. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.65 and a fifty-two week high of $39.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.61, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $37.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.26.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.15). The firm had revenue of $1.94 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.20 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 10.42% and a return on equity of 9.16%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.36 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.54%.

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.