HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC Sells 50,000 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Key Points

• HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC has reduced its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. by selling 50,000 shares, bringing its ownership down to approximately 1.83 million shares, which makes up about 4.1% of their portfolio.
• CenterPoint Energy recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, equating to an annual yield of 2.3% and a payout ratio of 61.54%.
• The company reported earnings per share of $0.29 for the last quarter, missing the consensus estimate by $0.15 while generating revenue of $1.94 billion.

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 2.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,831,554 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 50,000 shares during the quarter. CenterPoint Energy comprises 4.1% of HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC owned 0.28% of CenterPoint Energy worth $66,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 80,061,059 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,900,612,000 after acquiring an additional 671,868 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,480,060,000 after acquiring an additional 1,922,169 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 0.9% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,934,611 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $215,011,000 after acquiring an additional 54,596 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $164,350,000. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 50.2% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,118,233 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $185,434,000 after acquiring an additional 1,709,682 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, July 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $37.38.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock traded up $0.0340 on Friday, reaching $38.0340. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,607,602 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,139,331. 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $36.42. The company has a market capitalization of $24.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.60, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.58. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $26.32 and a 52-week high of $39.39.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.29 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 9.16% and a net margin of 10.42%.During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.36 earnings per share. CenterPoint Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 1.740-1.760 EPS. Analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 21st will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 21st. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

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.