Louisbourg Investments Inc. Sells 37,535 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Louisbourg Investments Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 26.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 103,553 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 37,535 shares during the period. Louisbourg Investments Inc.'s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $3,752,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of CNP. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 80,577 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,283 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 32.6% during the fourth quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,314,131 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $73,427,000 after purchasing an additional 569,389 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $569,000. Atria Investments Inc boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 57.1% during the 4th quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 34,577 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 12,563 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,116,586 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $130,619,000 after buying an additional 160,154 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Argus upgraded CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 target price (up from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.5%

CNP stock traded up $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $35.73. The stock had a trading volume of 6,127,653 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,281,307. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The company has a market capitalization of $23.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.59. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $39.31. The company's 50 day moving average is $37.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.73.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 10.80%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.46%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.