Hartford Investment Management Co. Lowers Position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Hartford Investment Management Co. decreased its holdings in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 19,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 224 shares during the quarter. Hartford Investment Management Co.’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $1,344,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 48,203.8% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 50,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,059,000 after purchasing an additional 50,614 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in CMS Energy by 16.4% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 352,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,267,000 after acquiring an additional 49,630 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 1,854.4% during the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 114,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,890,000 after acquiring an additional 108,350 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 56.8% in the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,511,000 after acquiring an additional 27,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 79.9% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 731,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,569,000 after purchasing an additional 325,101 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Guggenheim increased their target price on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Barclays lifted their price target on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com raised CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.85.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CMS opened at $70.77 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $69.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $64.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.13 billion, a PE ratio of 21.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.41. CMS Energy Co. has a one year low of $53.53 and a one year high of $72.40.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 13.10%. The firm’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 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.