Hartford Investment Management Co. Has $1.23 Million Holdings in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Hartford Investment Management Co. decreased its stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 630 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $1,226,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its stake in CMS Energy by 106.8% during the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 171.9% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new position in shares of CMS Energy during the third quarter worth $40,000. Covestor Ltd increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 206.1% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $56,000. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on CMS. Scotiabank boosted their target price on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.15.

CMS Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE CMS opened at $68.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $66.90 and a 200-day moving average of $68.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.75, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.42. CMS Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $56.31 and a fifty-two week high of $72.40.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, sell-side analysts predict 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 will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 62.05%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total value of $64,116.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,672,564.50. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total value of $1,893,187.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 144,059 shares in the company, valued at $9,486,285.15. The trade was a 16.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 40,386 shares of company stock valued at $2,695,476 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.