CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank decreased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,973,700 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 56,000 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.31% of CenterPoint Energy worth $56,389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Global Retirement Partners LLC boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% during the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 634.9% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,389 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares in the last quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $80,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 44.2% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,473 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $156,000 after buying an additional 1,678 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,203 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $623,792.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.13% of the company's stock.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of CNP traded down $0.13 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $29.32. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,537,633 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,289,883. The company's fifty day moving average price is $28.18 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $28.07. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.42 and a 52 week high of $31.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The stock has a market cap of $18.76 billion, a PE ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.91.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.03% and a return on equity of 10.57%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.82 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. On average, analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.73%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 56.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from an "outperform" rating to an "in-line" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Guggenheim reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Mizuho restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $29.00 price target (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $30.18.

About CenterPoint Energy

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.