Wealthfront Advisers LLC Sells 76,476 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC decreased its position in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 97.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,789 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 76,476 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of CMS. Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new stake in CMS Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $53,904,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in CMS Energy by 10.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,610,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $537,503,000 after purchasing an additional 719,093 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its position in CMS Energy by 404.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 892,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,053,000 after purchasing an additional 715,891 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in CMS Energy by 760.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 700,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,664,000 after purchasing an additional 618,767 shares during the period. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in CMS Energy by 552.9% during the third quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 566,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,978,000 after purchasing an additional 479,336 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total value of $147,540.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 71,931 shares in the company, valued at $5,306,349.87. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $467,392.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 21,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,509,815.68. This represents a 23.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 39,950 shares of company stock worth $2,682,720. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CMS opened at $73.25 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.89 billion, a PE ratio of 22.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $68.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.79. CMS Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $56.61 and a fifty-two week high of $75.06.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 13.35%. Research analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on CMS. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 target price on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays raised CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $73.00.

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.