HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 1,452 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,452 shares during the quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $6,467,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CMS. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 101.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,891,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $410,223,000 after acquiring an additional 3,473,977 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 310.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,125,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,519,000 after purchasing an additional 851,364 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 105.9% during the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,555,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,623,000 after purchasing an additional 800,344 shares during the period. Railway Pension Investments Ltd bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $47,082,000. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its position in CMS Energy by 552.9% in the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 566,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,978,000 after acquiring an additional 479,336 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have commented on CMS shares. Mizuho lowered shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. StockNews.com lowered CMS Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.21.

CMS Energy Stock Up 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE CMS opened at $67.66 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.83. CMS Energy Co. has a one year low of $55.10 and a one year high of $72.40. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.33, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.41.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.81% and a net margin of 14.01%. CMS Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is presently 58.86%.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.17, for a total transaction of $136,340.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,415,439.07. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total transaction of $64,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,672,564.50. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CMS Energy Profile

CMS Energy Corporation operates as an energy company primarily in Michigan. The company operates through three segments: Electric Utility; Gas Utility; and Enterprises. The Electric Utility segment is involved in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. This segment generates electricity through coal, wind, gas, renewable energy, oil, and nuclear sources.