Jennison Associates LLC Has $250.88 Million Stock Position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. $CNP

Jennison Associates LLC lessened its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 6,465,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,393,793 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $250,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in CenterPoint Energy by 1.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 81,362,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,989,256,000 after purchasing an additional 1,301,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 16,710,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $611,377,000 after buying an additional 652,202 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $313,456,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 5,556,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $204,153,000 after acquiring an additional 49,781 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. boosted its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 5,547,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $203,811,000 after acquiring an additional 429,150 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at CenterPoint Energy

In related news, Director Phillip R. Smith sold 6,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.83, for a total transaction of $240,746.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 65,577 shares in the company, valued at $2,546,354.91. This represents a 8.64% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on CNP shares. BMO Capital Markets raised shares of CenterPoint Energy from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $42.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Mizuho set a $42.00 price objective on CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group dropped their target price on CenterPoint Energy from $45.00 to $43.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.82.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of CNP opened at $38.74 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.52, a PEG ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.59. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a one year low of $31.76 and a one year high of $40.50. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $38.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.76, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 10.25% and a net margin of 11.37%.During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.31 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CenterPoint Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 12th. Investors of record on Thursday, February 19th will be issued a $0.23 dividend. This is a positive change from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. This represents a $0.92 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 19th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 55.70%.

About CenterPoint Energy

CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE: CNP) is a Houston-based regulated utility company that provides electric and natural gas delivery services and related infrastructure operations. The company’s principal activities center on the transmission and distribution of electricity in the greater Houston metropolitan area and the distribution of natural gas to customers across several states in the Midwest and South. As a vertically integrated utility, CenterPoint focuses on the reliable delivery of energy through owned and operated networks of lines, pipelines and associated facilities.

CenterPoint’s core businesses include regulated electric transmission and distribution services, regulated natural gas distribution, and the operation and maintenance of energy infrastructure.