Prudential Financial Inc. Has $74.35 Million Stock Position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 207.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,115,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 753,182 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $74,350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in CMS. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in CMS Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its position 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 buying an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its stake in CMS Energy by 171.9% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 275 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 2,900.0% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the period. 93.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CMS shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 target price on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Barclays upgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.36.

Insider Transactions at CMS Energy

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,306,349.87. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $467,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 21,643 shares in the company, valued at $1,509,815.68. This trade represents a 23.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:CMS opened at $73.17 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.15. CMS Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $56.61 and a 1 year high of $75.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company has a market capitalization of $21.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 13.35%. On average, research analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.5425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is presently 65.36%.

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.