Inspire Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Inspire Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 10.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 17,847 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,163 shares during the period. Inspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $656,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Jump Financial LLC raised its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 130.3% during the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 22,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $832,000 after purchasing an additional 13,000 shares during the period. Ethos Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $257,000. Board of the Pension Protection Fund purchased a new stake in CenterPoint Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $937,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 5.2% during the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,225,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,022,000 after buying an additional 60,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arcus Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the second quarter worth $704,000. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $40.00 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $39.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.91. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76. The company has a market cap of $26.11 billion, a PE ratio of 25.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.60. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a twelve month low of $30.59 and a twelve month high of $40.50.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.46 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $1.99 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.04 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a net margin of 11.37% and a return on equity of 10.25%. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.31 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, December 11th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 20th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 20th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. CenterPoint Energy’s payout ratio is 55.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on CNP. Mizuho set a $42.00 target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $40.00 to $41.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $42.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CenterPoint Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $41.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at CenterPoint Energy

In related news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the sale, the director owned 65,577 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,546,354.91. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.