Vanguard Group Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 0.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 38,175,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 316,011 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.13% of CMS Energy worth $2,544,370,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CMS. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 106.8% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in CMS Energy by 171.9% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in CMS Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 2,900.0% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 21,643 shares in the company, valued at $1,509,815.68. This trade represents a 23.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532 over the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CMS Energy Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of CMS Energy stock opened at $72.08 on Wednesday. CMS Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $56.61 and a 1 year high of $75.06. The firm has a market cap of $21.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a 50-day moving average of $70.11 and a 200 day moving average of $69.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.5425 dividend. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.36%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

CMS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America boosted their target price on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.36.

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.