CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by Louisbourg Investments Inc.

Louisbourg Investments Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 26.6% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 103,553 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 37,535 shares during the quarter. Louisbourg Investments Inc.'s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $3,752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Curat Global LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the first quarter worth $25,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, CoreCap Advisors LLC increased 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 worth $34,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.2%

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $35.94 on Tuesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.41 and a fifty-two week high of $39.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.08. The company has a market capitalization of $23.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.60, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $34.69.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted its 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). CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.45%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is currently 59.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CNP. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective 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. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective (up from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.04.

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.

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