Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes Position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 74,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,938,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 171.9% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 106.8% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Robbins Farley bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $62,000. Institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank increased 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price target 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. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays upgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CMS Energy news, 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,306,349.87. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were 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 directly owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at $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. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,950 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,720. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CMS opened at $72.83 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $69.04 and a 200-day moving average of $68.93. CMS Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $56.61 and a 1 year high of $75.06.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is currently 65.36%.

CMS Energy Company 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.