Avantax Advisory Services Inc. Reduces Position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Avantax Advisory Services Inc. reduced its position in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS - Free Report) by 27.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 18,994 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 7,300 shares during the period. Avantax Advisory Services Inc.'s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $1,266,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in CMS Energy by 10.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,610,120 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $537,503,000 after buying an additional 719,093 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in CMS Energy by 1.4% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,509,770 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $528,713,000 after buying an additional 105,062 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in CMS Energy by 0.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,155,842 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $152,267,000 after buying an additional 18,403 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in CMS Energy by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,879,271 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $125,253,000 after buying an additional 56,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truist Financial Corp raised its stake in CMS Energy by 10.0% in the fourth quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 1,621,562 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $108,077,000 after buying an additional 147,540 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total value of $147,540.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 71,931 shares in the company, valued at $5,306,349.87. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction 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 dated 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 owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. This trade represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

CMS Energy Price Performance

Shares of CMS stock traded down $0.21 on Friday, hitting $73.49. 4,949,651 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,137,470. The firm has a market cap of $21.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. CMS Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $56.61 and a 52 week high of $75.06. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 research analysts predict that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. This is an increase from CMS Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMS has been the subject of a number of research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays raised shares of CMS Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Scotiabank raised their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. 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, CMS Energy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $74.36.

CMS Energy 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.