Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Increases Stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 760.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 700,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 618,767 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $46,664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in CMS Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 206.1% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CMS Energy during the third quarter worth about $56,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 25.7% during the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Stock Up 1.5 %

CMS stock opened at $66.56 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $19.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $67.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.83. CMS Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $55.10 and a 12 month high of $72.40.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.61 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 58.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.17, for a total transaction of $136,340.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,415,439.07. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total value of $64,116.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,417 shares in the company, valued at $1,672,564.50. The trade was a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,686 shares of company stock valued at $2,228,084 over the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on CMS. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased their target price on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com raised CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.36.

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.