Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Increases Stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 103.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,119 shares during the quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $471,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covington Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in CMS Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Clear Street Markets LLC lifted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 94.9% during the first quarter. Clear Street Markets LLC now owns 573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Tobam grew its position in shares of CMS Energy by 2,432.3% in the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 754 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CMS Energy Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE CMS opened at $58.25 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.98 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $57.09. CMS Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $49.87 and a twelve month high of $63.76. The company has a market capitalization of $17.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.35, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.38.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.05 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.62 billion. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 11.89%. The company’s revenue was down 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were issued a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 9th. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is presently 68.44%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 3,500 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, February 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $57.78, for a total value of $202,230.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 68,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,985,144.38. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CMS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 13th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of CMS Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. UBS Group cut shares of CMS Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Guggenheim raised shares of CMS Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $60.00 to $64.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CMS Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $62.64.

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.