Financial Counselors Inc. Purchases Shares of 3,028 CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Financial Counselors Inc. acquired a new position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 3,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of CMS. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in CMS Energy by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in CMS Energy by 25.6% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in CMS Energy by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in CMS Energy by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 4,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Price Performance

NYSE:CMS opened at $74.18 on Friday. CMS Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $56.61 and a 12 month high of $75.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $70.47 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.27. 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 firm has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (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%. On average, 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 declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.5425 dividend. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.36%.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total transaction of $467,392.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 21,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,509,815.68. The trade was a 23.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 71,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,306,349.87. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on CMS. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.36.

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.