Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Sells 787 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund decreased its holdings in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 787 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $625,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 48,203.8% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 50,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,059,000 after buying an additional 50,614 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 79.9% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 731,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,569,000 after purchasing an additional 325,101 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 402.6% in the first quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 19,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 15,700 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in CMS Energy by 325.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 26,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,582,000 after purchasing an additional 20,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in CMS Energy by 46.2% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,332,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,275,000 after purchasing an additional 421,059 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CMS. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CMS Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Scotiabank upped their target price on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com raised CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on CMS Energy in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on CMS Energy from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.29.

CMS Energy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE CMS opened at $68.50 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $65.33. 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 1 year low of $55.10 and a 1 year high of $72.40. The firm has a market cap of $20.47 billion, a PE ratio of 19.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.41.

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

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.86%.

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.