Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Boosts Stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 76,560 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $5,103,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of CMS. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 5.4% during the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 11.5% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 517 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 171.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,822,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $128,715,000 after acquiring an additional 25,196 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Trust N.A. increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 6,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 1,940 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at CMS Energy

In related news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $467,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 21,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,509,815.68. This trade represents a 23.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total transaction of $147,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,306,349.87. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Stock Down 0.3 %

CMS stock opened at $73.49 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $21.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. CMS Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $56.61 and a 12 month high of $75.06. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $69.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.12.

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

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.5425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on CMS shares. Scotiabank upped their target price on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group increased their price target on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays raised CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.36.

About CMS Energy

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.