Savant Capital LLC Acquires New Stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Savant Capital LLC bought a new position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in CMS Energy by 10.6% in the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,562 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,000 after purchasing an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB increased its stake in CMS Energy by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 8,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $587,000 after purchasing an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in CMS Energy by 19.1% during the 4th quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 659 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in CMS Energy by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 755,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,332,000 after purchasing an additional 32,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC increased its stake in CMS Energy by 10.1% during the 4th quarter. Centennial Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 8,242 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $549,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on CMS shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. 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 raised CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank boosted their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.15.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total transaction of $1,893,187.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 144,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,486,285.15. The trade was a 16.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $467,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 21,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,509,815.68. The trade was a 23.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,386 shares of company stock valued at $2,559,136. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of CMS Energy stock opened at $69.54 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $20.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.23. The company has a fifty day moving average of $66.96 and a 200 day moving average of $68.14. CMS Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $56.31 and a fifty-two week high of $72.40.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.12%. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. 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.