Oak Thistle LLC Reduces Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Oak Thistle LLC lowered its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 74.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 16,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 45,989 shares during the quarter. Oak Thistle LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $512,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in CNP. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $276,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 107,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,285,000 after buying an additional 3,034 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 11.6% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 685,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,242,000 after acquiring an additional 71,469 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,611,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,914,000 after acquiring an additional 200,693 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its position in CenterPoint Energy by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $32.80 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.38 billion, a PE ratio of 21.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.95. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $31.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.58. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.41 and a one year 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.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.25% and a return on equity of 9.73%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 EPS. Research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 20th. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

CenterPoint Energy 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.