Everence Capital Management Inc. Sells 9,610 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Everence Capital Management Inc. lessened its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 49.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,610 shares during the quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the third quarter worth about $26,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 51.3% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 1,106 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $36,000. Kimelman & Baird LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 80.8% during the second quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 1,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 728 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CenterPoint Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $31.27.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:CNP opened at $31.04 on Tuesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $33.00. 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 company’s fifty day moving average is $31.31 and its 200-day moving average is $29.55. The company has a market capitalization of $20.23 billion, a PE ratio of 20.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.84%. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.28%.

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.