Verition Fund Management LLC Sells 48,489 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Verition Fund Management LLC lessened its position in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 31.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 103,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 48,489 shares during the period. Verition Fund Management LLC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $7,299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 79.9% during 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 during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in CMS Energy by 325.4% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 26,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,582,000 after purchasing an additional 20,056 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 130,804.3% in the second quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 30,108 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,792,000 after buying an additional 30,085 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 992.4% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 251,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,075,000 after buying an additional 228,501 shares during the period. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 10.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,610,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $537,503,000 after buying an additional 719,093 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on CMS. Scotiabank lifted their price target on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho downgraded CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $72.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In other news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total value of $64,116.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,417 shares in the company, valued at $1,672,564.50. This represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.17, for a total transaction of $136,340.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 64,771 shares in the company, valued at $4,415,439.07. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Stock Down 1.1 %

CMS Energy stock opened at $69.71 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.83 billion, a PE ratio of 19.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.78. CMS Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $55.10 and a 12 month high of $72.40.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 58.86%.

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.