Deutsche Bank reissued their hold rating on shares of CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CNP) in a research note published on Wednesday, Marketbeat reports. They currently have a $17.00 price objective on the stock, down from their previous price objective of $18.00.

In other news, Director Janiece M. Longoria sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.03, for a total transaction of $51,090.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 52,340 shares in the company, valued at approximately $891,350.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Other hedge funds recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eagle Asset Management boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 325.2% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management now owns 400,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,220,000 after buying an additional 306,142 shares in the last quarter. EQIS Capital Management boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 44.9% in the fourth quarter. EQIS Capital Management now owns 30,217 shares of the company’s stock worth $555,000 after buying an additional 9,361 shares in the last quarter. Janus Capital Management boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 309.6% in the third quarter. Janus Capital Management now owns 49,385 shares of the company’s stock worth $891,000 after buying an additional 37,329 shares in the last quarter. Kempner Capital Management boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. Kempner Capital Management now owns 14,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ICON Advisers boosted its stake in CenterPoint Energy by 1,661.8% in the third quarter. ICON Advisers now owns 539,100 shares of the company’s stock worth $9,725,000 after buying an additional 508,500 shares in the last quarter.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) traded up 1.33% during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $17.54. 4,402,572 shares of the company traded hands. The firm’s market capitalization is $7.55 billion. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $17.55 and its 200-day moving average is $18.09. CenterPoint Energy has a 12-month low of $16.05 and a 12-month high of $23.46.

CenterPoint Energy (NYSE:CNP) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 5th. The company reported $0.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.30 by $0.04. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.33 EPS. The company had revenue of $1.63 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.96 billion. The firm’s revenue was down 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that CenterPoint Energy will post $1.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 16th will be paid a $0.2575 dividend. This represents a $1.03 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 9th. This is a boost from CenterPoint Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.25.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on CNP. Argus decreased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $25.00 to $22.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 12th. SunTrust downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their target price for the company from $19.00 to $18.00 in a research report on Monday, January 11th. Zacks Investment Research downgraded shares of CenterPoint Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 5th. Barclays reaffirmed an equal weight rating and issued a $24.00 target price (down previously from $27.00) on shares of CenterPoint Energy in a research report on Thursday, December 3rd. Finally, Macquarie decreased their target price on shares of CenterPoint Energy from $20.50 to $20.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $19.69.

CenterPoint Energy, Inc. is a public utility holding company. The company’s segments include: Electric Transmission & Distribution, Natural Gas Distribution, Energy Services, Midstream Investments and Other Operations. Electric Transmission & Distribution provides electric transmission and distribution services to retail electric providers. Natural Gas Distribution offers intrastate natural gas sales to and natural gas transportation and distribution for residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers. Energy Services includes non-rate regulated gas sales and services operations. Midstream Investments segment includes equity earnings associated with the operations of Enable Midstream Partners, LP and a 0.1% interest in Southeast Supply Header, LLC owned by CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp. Other Operations includes office buildings and other real estate used in its business operations and other corporate operations which support all of its business operations.

12 Month Chart for NYSE:CNP

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