Jennison Associates LLC Lowers Holdings in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Jennison Associates LLC trimmed its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 12.4% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,973,319 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 847,654 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $216,413,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in CNP. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 8.6% in the 1st quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 80,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,907,000 after acquiring an additional 6,377 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 19,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $721,000 after acquiring an additional 1,615 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of CenterPoint Energy by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 80,577 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,557,000 after acquiring an additional 2,283 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 3.1% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 864,175 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,309,000 after buying an additional 26,153 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in CenterPoint Energy by 32.6% during the 4th quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 2,314,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,427,000 after buying an additional 569,389 shares in the last quarter. 91.77% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CenterPoint Energy Price Performance

CNP stock opened at $36.77 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $36.58 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.93 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The stock has a market cap of $24.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.57. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $39.31.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $2.92 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.73 billion. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 9.74% and a net margin of 10.80%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, August 21st will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.39%. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 59.06%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on CNP shares. Barclays raised CenterPoint Energy from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $30.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $42.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $34.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on CenterPoint Energy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Argus raised CenterPoint Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $36.13.

CenterPoint Energy 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.