Nuveen Asset Management LLC Lowers Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC cut its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 15.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,357,240 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 429,802 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned about 0.36% of CenterPoint Energy worth $74,795,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 87,449,927 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,774,941,000 after buying an additional 334,631 shares in the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 46,645,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,480,060,000 after buying an additional 1,922,169 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 156.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 45,573,115 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,446,036,000 after buying an additional 27,799,744 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,490,728 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $490,205,000 after acquiring an additional 406,832 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 7.9% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 5,880,015 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $186,573,000 after acquiring an additional 431,260 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on CNP shares. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $36.04.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CNP traded down $0.24 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $37.23. 3,813,690 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,595,337. The stock has a market cap of $24.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.41, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $36.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $33.88. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $39.31. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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). 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.36%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 59.06%.

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.