New York Life Investment Management LLC Sells 673 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

New York Life Investment Management LLC lowered its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 89,345 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 673 shares during the quarter. New York Life Investment Management LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $2,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CNP. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 163.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 634.9% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 1,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 1,200 shares during the period. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth $49,000. BluePath Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the third quarter worth $80,000. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 44.2% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 5,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $156,000 after buying an additional 1,678 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Barry T. Smitherman sold 5,670 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.42, for a total transaction of $166,811.40. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,203 shares in the company, valued at approximately $623,792.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $29.45 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $28.18 and a two-hundred day moving average of $28.07. The stock has a market cap of $18.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $25.42 and a one year high of $31.43.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 11.03%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.72%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 56.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on CNP shares. Evercore ISI lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “outperform” rating to an “in-line” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $29.00 to $30.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $33.00 to $32.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $30.18.

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.