Magellan Asset Management Ltd Sells 22,021 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Key Points

• Magellan Asset Management Ltd has reduced its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 4.7%, selling 22,021 shares and leaving it with approximately 442,156 shares valued at $16.02 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Amid these changes, other institutional investors have either increased or initiated positions in CenterPoint Energy, with significant growth from National Bank of Canada FI, which raised its stake by 63.2% to own 797,076 shares.
• Analysts have mixed opinions on CenterPoint Energy, with a recent upgrade by Evercore ISI raising its price target from $37.00 to $41.00, while Morgan Stanley cut its target from $35.00 to $34.00, reflecting varying expectations for the company's performance.

Magellan Asset Management Ltd lowered its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 442,156 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 22,021 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd owned approximately 0.07% of CenterPoint Energy worth $16,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Family Office LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter valued at about $1,138,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the first quarter valued at about $53,000. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 63.2% in the first quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 797,076 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $28,876,000 after acquiring an additional 308,631 shares during the last quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.0% in the first quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 100,766 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,651,000 after acquiring an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 10.2% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,164,648 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,195,000 after acquiring an additional 108,255 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on CNP. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, May 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $36.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $42.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. One equities research 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $37.38.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $38.83 on Friday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $39.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.61. The stock's 50 day moving average is $36.89 and its 200 day moving average is $36.05. The firm has a market cap of $25.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.58.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.44 by ($0.15). The business 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 last year, the firm posted $0.36 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. 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 payout ratio is currently 61.54%.

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.

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