Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. Sells 19,723 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. cut its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,494,031 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 19,723 shares during the quarter. Capital Group Private Client Services Inc. owned 0.23% of CenterPoint Energy worth $47,406,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the period. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on CNP shares. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. They issued a "buy" rating and a $42.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upgraded CenterPoint Energy from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $36.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $35.04.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.1 %

CenterPoint Energy stock traded down $0.41 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $36.85. The stock had a trading volume of 1,902,662 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,546,090. The company has a market capitalization of $24.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $37.70. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $35.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $32.73.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.79% and a return on equity of 10.02%. The company had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. On average, analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.35%.

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.