HighTower Advisors LLC Has $2.30 Million Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 16.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 78,294 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 15,776 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,303,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Rothschild Investment LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $33,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $36,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $43,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 459.0% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,554 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 1,276 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on CNP shares. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday. They set a "buy" rating and a $34.50 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded 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, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $31.27.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock traded up $0.03 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $31.94. The stock had a trading volume of 4,760,087 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,268,520. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $30.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $29.41. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $33.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.96.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.63%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 55.63%.

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.