Hilltop Holdings Inc. Makes New Investment in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 68,920 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,868,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of CMS. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 0.6% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 25,390 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,511,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the period. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 798 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $56,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,625 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 15,675 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,107,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 25.6% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 982 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company's stock.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

CMS traded down $0.15 on Tuesday, reaching $68.25. 1,929,517 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,258,703. The company's 50-day moving average price is $69.70 and its 200 day moving average price is $65.81. CMS Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $55.10 and a fifty-two week high of $72.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.39 billion, a PE ratio of 19.54, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.41.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.81% and a net margin of 14.01%. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.61 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. This is a positive change from CMS Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. CMS Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.17, for a total value of $136,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 64,771 shares in the company, valued at $4,415,439.07. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total value of $64,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,417 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,672,564.50. This represents a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CMS. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded CMS Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America raised their price objective on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Mizuho cut CMS Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, CMS Energy has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $70.21.

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.