Stifel Financial Corp Sells 48,896 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Stifel Financial Corp lowered its stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 19.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 206,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 48,896 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $6,559,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CNP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim cut CenterPoint Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $37.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Barclays raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $37.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $35.79.

CenterPoint Energy Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:CNP opened at $38.25 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.65. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.41 and a 52 week high of $38.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $35.80 and a 200 day moving average of $33.03.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The business had revenue of $2.92 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 15th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.30%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 59.06%.

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.