CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Shares Bought by Smartleaf Asset Management LLC

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 10.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 12,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,166 shares during the period. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $828,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in CMS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of CMS Energy by 32.3% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 1,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,000 after acquiring an additional 348 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of CMS Energy by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 82,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,943,000 after acquiring an additional 2,675 shares in the last quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $5,153,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of CMS Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 174,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,350,000 after acquiring an additional 4,432 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its position in shares of CMS Energy by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 4,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on CMS Energy in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. 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. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.69.

CMS Energy Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of CMS stock opened at $74.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.79. CMS Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $56.61 and a 1 year high of $74.19. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $68.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.13 billion, a PE ratio of 22.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 EPS 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, research analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.5425 dividend. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is currently 65.36%.

Insider Transactions at CMS Energy

In other news, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total value of $174,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 38,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. The trade was a 6.05 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now directly owns 144,059 shares in the company, valued at $9,486,285.15. This trade represents a 16.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,950 shares of company stock valued at $2,669,620. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.