Benjamin Edwards Inc. Sells 718 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. decreased its holdings in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 1.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 59,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 718 shares during the quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $3,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 68.4% during the fourth quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 64,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,721,000 after purchasing an additional 26,034 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 203,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,821,000 after purchasing an additional 7,188 shares during the period. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 49.9% during the third quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 302,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,051,000 after purchasing an additional 100,618 shares during the period. New England Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 38.8% during the third quarter. New England Asset Management Inc. now owns 132,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,061,000 after purchasing an additional 37,147 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in CMS Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $4,390,000. Institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.78, for a total value of $202,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 68,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,985,144.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE CMS traded up $0.30 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $61.14. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 555,596 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,537,486. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. The business’s 50 day moving average is $58.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.59. CMS Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $49.87 and a 12-month high of $63.76. The firm has a market cap of $18.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.37.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.92 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.83% and a net margin of 13.19%. CMS Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.70 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.37%. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is currently 62.80%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on CMS. Wolfe Research upgraded CMS Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their price objective on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 4th. UBS Group lowered CMS Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. KeyCorp increased their price target on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on CMS Energy from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.50.

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.