abrdn plc Sells 414,608 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

abrdn plc cut its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP - Free Report) by 27.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,098,287 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 414,608 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc owned approximately 0.17% of CenterPoint Energy worth $32,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $302,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961,464 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC lifted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% in the second quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $144,570,000 after buying an additional 1,484,079 shares during the last quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $42,548,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,188,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.77% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on CNP shares. BMO Capital Markets reiterated a "market perform" rating and issued a $28.00 price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $29.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered CenterPoint Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $30.09.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of CNP stock traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $29.52. The company had a trading volume of 5,678,117 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,372,123. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $31.57. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $28.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $28.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.79, a quick ratio of 0.99 and a current ratio of 1.20. The company has a market capitalization of $18.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.92.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts' consensus estimates of $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.81% and a net margin of 12.28%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. CenterPoint Energy's payout ratio is presently 59.15%.

CenterPoint Energy Company 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.