Cibc World Markets Corp Increases Stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 16.3% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 47,160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,624 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $3,143,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of CMS. Fisher Funds Management LTD purchased a new position in CMS Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,904,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised 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 valued at $537,503,000 after acquiring an additional 719,093 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI raised 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 valued at $63,053,000 after acquiring an additional 715,891 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised 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 valued at $46,664,000 after acquiring an additional 618,767 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised 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 valued at $39,978,000 after acquiring an additional 479,336 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the company’s 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 owns 71,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,306,349.87. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total value of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. This trade represents a 6.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective 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. Barclays upgraded CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.00.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CMS opened at $73.73 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $69.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $56.61 and a 1 year high of $75.06.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid 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 yield of 2.94%. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 65.36%.

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.