Amalgamated Bank Decreases Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Amalgamated Bank lessened its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 127,307 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 50,797 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank's holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $3,745,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 185.7% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 235,223 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $7,287,000 after acquiring an additional 152,878 shares during the period. Quantbot Technologies LP acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter worth about $1,109,000. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 86.4% in the 1st quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 1,413,899 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $40,282,000 after buying an additional 655,327 shares in the last quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System now owns 675,277 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $19,894,000 after buying an additional 56,221 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 487.8% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 40,024 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,140,000 after buying an additional 33,215 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CNP. Bank of America started coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $29.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of CenterPoint Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $30.09.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 3.5 %

NYSE:CNP traded up $1.02 on Friday, reaching $30.39. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,429,068 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,028,034. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $29.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $29.05. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12-month low of $25.41 and a 12-month high of $31.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market cap of $19.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.40 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.76%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is currently 55.63%.

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.