Hennessy Advisors Inc. Decreases Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. reduced its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 4.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 422,228 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 21,200 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned 0.06% of CenterPoint Energy worth $15,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fulton Bank N.A. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% during the 1st quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 13,718 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $497,000 after buying an additional 362 shares during the period. Colonial Trust Co SC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 4,601 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $146,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 5,167 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $164,000 after acquiring an additional 390 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 400 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 11,907 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $378,000 after acquiring an additional 416 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CNP traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $36.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,896,511 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,637,264. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.41 and a 1 year high of $39.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The stock has a market cap of $23.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.82, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.59. The business's fifty day moving average is $37.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $34.64.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 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 business 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 company posted $0.55 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.42%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is currently 59.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective 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. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 price target (up previously from $35.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $42.00 price objective for the company. Argus raised shares of CenterPoint Energy to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, May 19th. One 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 company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy 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.