Jennison Associates LLC Has $216.43 Million Stock Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Jennison Associates LLC decreased its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,820,973 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 49,399 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 1.05% of CenterPoint Energy worth $216,429,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. ING Groep NV acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth $2,564,000. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth $908,000. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,898,800 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $55,863,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares during the last quarter. Custom Index Systems LLC acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $265,000. Finally, B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG acquired a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth $705,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CNP shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. StockNews.com downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, UBS Group upgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $31.46.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock traded up $0.16 during trading on Thursday, reaching $32.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,004,868 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,041,265. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.90. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year high of $33.12.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. CenterPoint Energy's dividend payout ratio 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.