Tower Research Capital LLC TRC Raises Stock Position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 13.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,753 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $1,565,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $171,798,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in CMS Energy by 28.0% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new stake in CMS Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $53,904,000. Prudential Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 207.9% during the fourth quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,115,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,350,000 after acquiring an additional 753,182 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 760.5% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 700,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,664,000 after acquiring an additional 618,767 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CMS Energy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of CMS stock opened at $73.77 on Thursday. CMS Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $58.50 and a twelve month high of $76.45. The stock has a market cap of $22.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $72.57 and a 200 day moving average of $69.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is currently 65.36%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total transaction of $147,540.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares in the company, valued at $5,306,349.87. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total transaction of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 38,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. The trade was a 6.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on CMS. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. UBS Group lifted 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. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 target price on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com cut CMS Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, April 18th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CMS Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.73.

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.