CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Shares Sold by HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC decreased its stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS - Free Report) by 16.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 297,186 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 58,380 shares during the period. CMS Energy accounts for 1.5% of HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC owned approximately 0.10% of CMS Energy worth $19,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,459 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in CMS Energy by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,996 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $266,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $317,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 4,327 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $288,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 106.8% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $69.00 target price on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Monday. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America upped their target price on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Barclays upgraded CMS Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CMS Energy currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $75.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CMS Energy news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total transaction of $467,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 21,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,509,815.68. This trade represents a 23.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total value of $174,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 38,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532. 0.49% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CMS opened at $72.81 on Friday. CMS Energy Co. has a one year low of $57.82 and a one year high of $76.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $72.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.57. 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 stock has a market cap of $21.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.34.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (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%. On average, equities research analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a $0.5425 dividend. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. CMS Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.36%.

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.

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