Ariel Investments LLC Sells 770,495 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Ariel Investments LLC trimmed its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 46.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 884,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 770,495 shares during the quarter. Ariel Investments LLC owned 0.14% of CenterPoint Energy worth $32,482,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the second quarter valued at about $313,456,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $92,025,000. GQG Partners LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $78,632,000. Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 31.6% in the 2nd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 7,859,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,765,000 after buying an additional 1,886,374 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2,845.6% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 1,938,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $70,222,000 after buying an additional 1,872,429 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $44.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $44.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, December 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.50.

Insider Activity

In other CenterPoint Energy news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the sale, the director owned 65,577 shares in the company, valued at $2,546,354.91. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $37.94 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $24.77 billion, a PE ratio of 24.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.44 and a beta of 0.56. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $30.59 and a 52 week high of $40.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.07.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.31 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 55.70%.

CenterPoint Energy Company 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.