Verition Fund Management LLC Sells 48,489 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Verition Fund Management LLC lessened its holdings in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS - Free Report) by 31.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 103,335 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 48,489 shares during the quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC's holdings in CMS Energy were worth $7,299,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 40.8% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 7,465 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $450,000 after buying an additional 2,165 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 86.4% during the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 16,606 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 7,696 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 325.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 26,219 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,582,000 after purchasing an additional 20,056 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 32.2% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,315 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $495,000 after purchasing an additional 2,027 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV raised its position in CMS Energy by 6.7% during the 2nd quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 3,767 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CMS. Barclays lifted their price objective on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of CMS Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a "buy" rating and a $76.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of CMS Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $70.21.

CMS Energy Stock Down 1.9 %

CMS Energy stock traded down $1.31 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $68.40. The company had a trading volume of 1,406,685 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,263,509. CMS Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $55.10 and a 12 month high of $72.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $69.70 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.81. The company has a market capitalization of $20.44 billion, a PE ratio of 19.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.41.

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

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This is a boost from CMS Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. CMS Energy's dividend payout ratio is 58.86%.

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.