Mather Group LLC. Sells 1,308 Shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Mather Group LLC. lowered its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,308 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in CenterPoint Energy were worth $264,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 302.6% in the fourth quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 159,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,565,000 after acquiring an additional 120,085 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 27.0% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,209,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,559,000 after acquiring an additional 256,820 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $399,000. UBS Group AG boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 37.5% in the third quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 1,540,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,361,000 after acquiring an additional 420,010 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA boosted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Beach Investment Counsel Inc. PA now owns 416,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,912,000 after acquiring an additional 102,271 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.77% of the company’s stock.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CNP opened at $29.40 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 0.58 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.81. The company has a market capitalization of $18.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70, a PEG ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.91. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $28.12 and a 200 day moving average of $28.05. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.42 and a 12 month high of $31.43.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.57% and a net margin of 11.03%. The business had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.62 earnings per share for the current year.

CenterPoint Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, May 16th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 15th. CenterPoint Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CNP has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $29.00 price objective (down from $30.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $31.00 to $29.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised CenterPoint Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $30.18.

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.