Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Cuts Stake in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP)

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lowered its position in CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) by 19.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,929,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,371,636 shares during the quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA owned 1.52% of CenterPoint Energy worth $315,066,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of CNP. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Assetmark Inc. lifted its holdings in CenterPoint Energy by 657.1% during the 4th quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 782 shares during the last quarter. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in CenterPoint Energy in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in shares of CenterPoint Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $40,000. 91.77% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CenterPoint Energy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of CenterPoint Energy stock opened at $35.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91, a current ratio of 1.08 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a market cap of $23.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.91. CenterPoint Energy, Inc. has a 52-week low of $25.41 and a 52-week high of $36.19. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $33.77 and a 200-day simple moving average of $31.64.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.40 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40. CenterPoint Energy had a return on equity of 10.02% and a net margin of 11.79%. The business had revenue of $2.26 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.46 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that CenterPoint Energy, Inc. will post 1.75 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank upgraded CenterPoint Energy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $29.00 to $30.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on CenterPoint Energy from $35.00 to $36.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $34.50 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $33.77.

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.