Townsquare Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 5,864 CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Townsquare Capital LLC bought a new position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 5,864 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $391,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in CMS Energy by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $297,000 after purchasing an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 4,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 225 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 106.8% during the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CMS opened at $72.81 on Monday. CMS Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $58.50 and a 12 month high of $76.45. 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 cap of $21.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a 50 day moving average of $72.34 and a 200 day moving average of $69.56.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 65.36%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on CMS shares. StockNews.com lowered CMS Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 target price on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.09.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 $5,306,349.87. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total value of $174,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at $2,709,093.60. This trade represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.