Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Cuts Position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC reduced its stake in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS - Free Report) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,331,828 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,488 shares during the quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned approximately 0.45% of CMS Energy worth $88,766,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insider Activity

In related 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 21,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,509,815.68. The trade was a 23.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,306,349.87. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CMS traded up $0.36 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $72.54. The company had a trading volume of 2,647,664 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,283,658. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. CMS Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $58.50 and a 52 week high of $76.45. The firm has a market cap of $21.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.34. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $72.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.67.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.03). CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 12.02%. The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 EPS. The company's revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. CMS Energy's payout ratio is 64.39%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on CMS. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of CMS Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $76.50.

About CMS Energy

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.