Assetmark Inc. Increases Position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 6.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 88,891 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,715 shares during the period. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $5,925,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $333,000. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in CMS Energy by 10.6% in the 3rd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 11,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after acquiring an additional 1,147 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in CMS Energy by 992.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 251,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,075,000 after acquiring an additional 228,501 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in CMS Energy by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,610,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $537,503,000 after acquiring an additional 719,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in CMS Energy by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,342,000 after acquiring an additional 5,662 shares during the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on CMS shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $72.42.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total transaction of $147,540.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 144,059 shares in the company, valued at $9,486,285.15. This represents a 16.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 41,950 shares of company stock worth $2,817,160. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of CMS stock opened at $73.12 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $21.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.02, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. CMS Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $56.61 and a 1-year high of $75.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $68.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $68.74.

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

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a $0.5425 dividend. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.97%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.36%.

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.