Viking Fund Management LLC Invests $2.66 Million in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Viking Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 44,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,655,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 10.5% in the 1st quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 26,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,000 after acquiring an additional 2,495 shares during the last quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY boosted its holdings in CMS Energy by 19.8% during the first quarter. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY now owns 660,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,826,000 after buying an additional 109,165 shares in the last quarter. Global Assets Advisory LLC acquired a new position in CMS Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $2,646,000. Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $905,000. Finally, &PARTNERS boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. &PARTNERS now owns 6,291 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 873 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In other news, SVP Brian F. Rich sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.10, for a total value of $122,200.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 97,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,968,370.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Jon E. Barfield sold 2,360 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.79, for a total transaction of $143,464.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,556 shares in the company, valued at approximately $884,859.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian F. Rich sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.10, for a total value of $122,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 97,682 shares in the company, valued at $5,968,370.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 6,027 shares of company stock worth $365,651 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays upped their target price on CMS Energy from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Royal Bank of Canada cut their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on CMS Energy from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $64.20.

CMS Energy Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of CMS traded up $0.35 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $59.96. 1,457,511 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,447,760. The company has a market cap of $17.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $59.11. CMS Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $49.87 and a 12-month high of $63.76. The company has a quick ratio of 1.05, a current ratio of 1.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.44%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, May 14th. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 62.80%.

CMS Energy Company 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.