Teilinger Capital Ltd. Sells 740,000 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Teilinger Capital Ltd. reduced its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 82.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 160,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 740,000 shares during the period. CenterPoint Energy accounts for approximately 0.9% of Teilinger Capital Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Teilinger Capital Ltd.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $5,077,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 15,083,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,231,000 after acquiring an additional 370,790 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.2% in the third quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 5,009,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $147,387,000 after acquiring an additional 247,944 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,956,432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $116,398,000 after acquiring an additional 110,905 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.1% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 3,177,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,478,000 after acquiring an additional 65,139 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank boosted its position 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 valued at $55,863,000 after acquiring an additional 24,400 shares during the period. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE CNP opened at $34.38 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The company has a market cap of $22.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.95. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $34.49. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $32.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $30.56.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.40. The firm had revenue of $2.26 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.46 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. As a group, analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 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, March 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be paid 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 2.56%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.35%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. Scotiabank raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $31.65.

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.