Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Increases Holdings in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 9.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 78,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,572 shares during the quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $5,207,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $333,000. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. raised its position in CMS Energy by 10.6% in the third quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 11,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,147 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in CMS Energy by 992.4% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 251,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,075,000 after purchasing an additional 228,501 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,610,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $537,503,000 after purchasing an additional 719,093 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 39.1% during the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,342,000 after purchasing an additional 5,662 shares during the period. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays raised shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $73.00.

CMS Energy Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:CMS opened at $72.83 on Friday. CMS Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $56.61 and a 52 week high of $75.06. The company’s 50 day moving average is $69.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.91. The company has a market cap of $21.76 billion, a PE ratio of 21.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 13.35%. Equities analysts predict that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.5425 dividend. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total value of $147,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares in the company, valued at $5,306,349.87. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total value of $1,893,187.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 144,059 shares in the company, valued at $9,486,285.15. This trade represents a 16.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,950 shares of company stock valued at $2,682,720. 0.53% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.