CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) Shares Sold by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. cut its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,398,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 113,518 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $39,414,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Baird Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 4.3% in the second quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 7,908 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $234,000 after buying an additional 328 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 0.4% in the second quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 99,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,957,000 after purchasing an additional 401 shares during the period. First Republic Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 2.2% in the first quarter. First Republic Investment Management Inc. now owns 19,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $596,000 after purchasing an additional 427 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 3.0% in the second quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 15,526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $458,000 after purchasing an additional 445 shares during the period. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 7.4% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 6,659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $187,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the period. 90.28% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CNP has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $31.00 to $32.00 in a report on Monday. KeyCorp decreased their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $34.00 to $31.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 20th. StockNews.com lowered CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on CenterPoint Energy to $35.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Barry T. Smitherman purchased 8,005 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 7th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $28.38 per share, for a total transaction of $227,181.90. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 20,534 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $582,754.92. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.09% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.6 %

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $30.19 on Wednesday. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.03 and a fifty-two week high of $33.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.46, a quick ratio of 0.69 and a current ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $19.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.53, a PEG ratio of 5.71 and a beta of 0.86. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $30.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $30.21.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, November 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.31 by $0.01. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.77% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.74 billion. Equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.39 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 9th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 16th will be issued a $0.19 dividend. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. This represents a $0.76 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.52%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, February 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is presently 29.88%.

CenterPoint Energy Company Profile

(Get Rating)

CenterPoint Energy, Inc operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through Electric and Natural Gas segments. The Electric segment includes electric transmission and distribution services to electric customers and electric generation assets, as well as assets in the wholesale power market.