Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Sells 2,056,891 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lessened its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 99.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,056,891 shares during the quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $457,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNP. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 38.8% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 10,602,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $302,070,000 after purchasing an additional 2,961,464 shares in the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth about $63,758,000. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC boosted its stake in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 46.6% during the 2nd quarter. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC now owns 4,666,563 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,484,079 shares in the last quarter. Maple Brown Abbott Ltd acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $42,548,000. Finally, Merewether Investment Management LP bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,188,000. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $32.00 to $29.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $32.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp lowered CenterPoint Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $28.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a report on Monday, August 26th. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.00.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CNP opened at $31.93 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $20.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.92. The company has a quick ratio of 0.92, a current ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $25.41 and a twelve month high of $32.34. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.17.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its earnings results on Monday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.31. The business 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 prior year, the firm posted $0.40 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 12th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 21st will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 21st. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 55.63%.

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.