The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Increases Holdings in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 189,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,331 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company owned approximately 0.06% of CMS Energy worth $13,380,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 101.7% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,891,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $410,223,000 after purchasing an additional 3,473,977 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 310.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,125,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,519,000 after buying an additional 851,364 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of CMS Energy by 105.9% during the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,555,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,623,000 after buying an additional 800,344 shares during the period. Railway Pension Investments Ltd acquired a new position in CMS Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $47,082,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in CMS Energy by 155.2% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 767,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,665,000 after acquiring an additional 466,500 shares during the period. 93.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on CMS Energy in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com cut shares of CMS Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 64,771 shares in the company, valued at $4,415,439.07. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,417 shares in the company, valued at $1,672,564.50. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE CMS opened at $69.71 on Monday. CMS Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $55.10 and a 52 week high of $72.40. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $69.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.78. 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 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.

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

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

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