Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Sells 58,908 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. cut its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 19.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 248,652 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 58,908 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $8,009,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 197,793 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,276,000 after purchasing an additional 22,347 shares during the period. Cigna Investments Inc. New acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Savant Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $252,000. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY increased its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 275,984 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,757,000 after acquiring an additional 14,114 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 13.6% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 12,027 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $382,000 after acquiring an additional 1,442 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. Guggenheim downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Scotiabank raised CenterPoint Energy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $31.46.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CNP stock traded up $0.59 during trading on Friday, hitting $34.32. The company had a trading volume of 6,019,438 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,177,416. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.95. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $34.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a current ratio of 1.11. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $32.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $30.28.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. Equities analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.56%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.