First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Grows Stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 28.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $484,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Tobam lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 2,432.3% during the fourth quarter. Tobam now owns 785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after buying an additional 754 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the fourth quarter worth $47,000. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 63.8% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 829 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centerpoint Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 25.0% in the 3rd quarter. Centerpoint Advisors LLC now owns 1,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brian F. Rich sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.10, for a total value of $122,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 97,682 shares in the company, valued at $5,968,370.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 3,500 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 68,971 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,985,144.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian F. Rich sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 97,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,968,370.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Guggenheim raised CMS Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $60.00 to $64.00 in a report on Friday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $67.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wolfe Research upgraded CMS Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on CMS Energy from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $63.50.

CMS Energy Price Performance

NYSE:CMS opened at $61.56 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $18.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $57.72. CMS Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $49.87 and a 12 month high of $63.76. 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 (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. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 12.83%. CMS Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.70 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be issued a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.80%.

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.