Jennison Associates LLC Has $202.13 Million Stock Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Jennison Associates LLC trimmed its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 2.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,870,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 160,023 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $202,126,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 25.7% during the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.3% during the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 19,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $557,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 19,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $609,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 60,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,780,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC increased its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 20,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $604,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP opened at $31.42 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $29.47 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $29.12. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.47 billion, a PE ratio of 20.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.92. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $31.57. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.40 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. This is an increase from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 21st. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on CNP shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $30.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com cut CenterPoint Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $30.09.

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.