UniSuper Management Pty Ltd Buys 7,544 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 802,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,544 shares during the quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $53,513,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Smith Group Asset Management LLC bought a new position in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $333,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of CMS Energy by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,342,000 after buying an additional 5,662 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its stake in 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 buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its position in 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 worth $1,787,000 after buying an additional 8,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in CMS Energy by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 170,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,377,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on CMS. StockNews.com upgraded CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays upgraded CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.36.

Insider Transactions at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total transaction of $147,540.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 71,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,306,349.87. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total transaction of $467,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of CMS stock opened at $73.24 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The business has a 50-day moving average of $70.24 and a 200 day moving average of $69.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.88 billion, a PE ratio of 22.06, 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.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 12.02%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share 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 dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.96%. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 65.36%.

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.