Van ECK Associates Corp Has $5.94 Million Stock Holdings in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 82,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,675 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $5,943,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 valued at $3,059,000 after acquiring an additional 50,614 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 49,630 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 56.8% during 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 purchasing an additional 27,053 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position 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 worth $43,569,000 after purchasing an additional 325,101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantbot Technologies LP increased its position in CMS Energy by 159.1% in the 1st quarter. Quantbot Technologies LP now owns 29,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,795,000 after buying an additional 18,267 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CMS. KeyCorp upped their target price on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of CMS Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on CMS Energy in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.29.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CMS opened at $66.36 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $19.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The company’s 50 day moving average is $69.86 and its 200-day moving average is $64.87. CMS Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $54.27 and a 12-month high of $72.40.

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

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.86%.

CMS Energy 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.