Balentine LLC Reduces Position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Balentine LLC cut its position in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 16.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 879 shares during the period. Balentine LLC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $252,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 7.3% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 4,663,108 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,658,000 after buying an additional 317,682 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 34.3% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 3,456,713 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $200,731,000 after buying an additional 883,180 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 3,144,280 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $166,993,000 after buying an additional 58,405 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 23.0% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 3,054,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $162,205,000 after buying an additional 570,800 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $111,004,000. 93.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on CMS. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 4th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Guggenheim upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $60.00 to $64.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $63.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In related news, SVP Brian F. Rich sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $61.10, for a total transaction of $122,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 97,682 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,968,370.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

CMS Energy Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of CMS opened at $60.88 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.35, a quick ratio of 1.05 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82. CMS Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $49.87 and a 12-month high of $63.76. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $60.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $58.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.37.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.05. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. CMS Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, May 14th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.38%. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is currently 62.80%.

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.