Magellan Asset Management Ltd Reduces Stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Magellan Asset Management Ltd lessened its stake in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 6.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,412,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 92,482 shares during the quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $94,145,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in CMS Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,175,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,544,370,000 after purchasing an additional 316,011 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,741,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $649,264,000 after buying an additional 2,131,269 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,608,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $505,869,000 after buying an additional 98,910 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $171,798,000. Finally, ExodusPoint Capital Management LP grew its position in CMS Energy by 15.5% in the fourth quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP now owns 2,556,267 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $170,375,000 after acquiring an additional 343,677 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $5,306,349.87. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $467,392.00. Following 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. Insiders have sold 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com downgraded CMS Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of 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 reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.36.

CMS Energy Stock Down 0.6 %

CMS stock opened at $74.71 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $70.91 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.38. CMS Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $56.61 and a twelve month high of $75.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market cap of $22.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35.

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

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.5425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.90%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.