Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 54,600 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

by · The Cerbat Gem

Hennessy Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP – Free Report) by 13.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 350,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 54,600 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned 0.05% of CenterPoint Energy worth $13,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,362,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,989,256,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,710,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $611,377,000 after buying an additional 652,202 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at about $313,456,000. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 31.6% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,859,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,886,374 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.9% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,556,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $204,153,000 after acquiring an additional 49,781 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $44.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.64.

View Our Latest Analysis on CenterPoint Energy

Insider Transactions at CenterPoint Energy

In other news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total value of $240,746.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 65,577 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,546,354.91. This trade represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of CNP opened at $38.35 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.04 billion, a PE ratio of 24.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.56. The company’s fifty day moving average is $38.85 and its 200 day moving average is $38.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.51. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $30.59 and a fifty-two week high of $40.50.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. The business had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.31 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.23 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.70%.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

(Free Report)

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE: CNP) is a Houston-based regulated utility company that provides electric and natural gas delivery services and related infrastructure operations. The company’s principal activities center on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the greater Houston metropolitan area and the distribution of natural gas to customers across several states in the Midwest and South. As a vertically integrated utility, CenterPoint focuses on the reliable delivery of energy through owned and operated networks of lines, pipelines and associated facilities.

CenterPoint’s core businesses include regulated electric transmission and distribution services, regulated natural gas distribution, and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure.

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