Hennessy Advisors Inc. Purchases 4,500 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 170,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $11,377,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in CMS Energy by 171.9% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 206.1% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. bought a new position in CMS Energy in the 3rd quarter worth $56,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.22, for a total value of $134,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,197 shares in the company, valued at $4,248,102.34. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total transaction of $1,893,187.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 144,059 shares in the company, valued at $9,486,285.15. This trade represents a 16.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 33,686 shares of company stock worth $2,228,084. Corporate insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CMS opened at $67.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.83. CMS Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $55.10 and a 1-year high of $72.40. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $67.38 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.31 billion, a PE ratio of 19.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.42.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. CMS Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a $0.515 dividend. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.86%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.00.

CMS Energy 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.