CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Position Raised by Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 9.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $213,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $333,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after purchasing an additional 5,662 shares in the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 49.9% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 26,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,787,000 after purchasing an additional 8,927 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 76,560 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,103,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 170,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,377,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CMS shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Barclays upgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven 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 $74.36.

CMS Energy Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of CMS opened at $73.49 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.12. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. CMS Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $56.61 and a 1-year high of $75.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 13.35%. Analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 65.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $467,392.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 21,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,509,815.68. This represents a 23.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.