Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 179,236 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 35.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 325,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 179,236 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $10,327,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 11.6% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 685,669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,242,000 after buying an additional 71,469 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,611,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,914,000 after acquiring an additional 200,693 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 11,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,462 shares in the last quarter. Amalgamated Bank raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 36.6% in the second quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 178,104 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,518,000 after purchasing an additional 47,686 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lifted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 13.8% during the second quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 45,463 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,408,000 after purchasing an additional 5,526 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.6 %

CNP opened at $32.60 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $31.73 and a 200 day moving average of $29.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.41 and a 12 month high of $33.00. The company has a market cap of $21.24 billion, a PE ratio of 21.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.95.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.31. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.73% and a net margin of 11.25%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.40 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 EPS for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 13th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 20th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, February 20th. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.70%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.63%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on CNP shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $31.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price target on the stock. UBS Group upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $31.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $31.27.

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.