Legacy Capital Group California Inc. Acquires New Holdings in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Legacy Capital Group California Inc. bought a new position in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 8,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $552,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 106.8% during the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in CMS Energy by 171.9% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new position in shares of CMS Energy during the third quarter worth $40,000. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 206.1% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after buying an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the third quarter valued at $56,000. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on CMS Energy in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Barclays upgraded CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.69.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In related news, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total value of $1,893,187.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 144,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,486,285.15. This represents a 16.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $467,392.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 21,643 shares in the company, valued at $1,509,815.68. This represents a 23.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 37,450 shares of company stock valued at $2,495,020 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE CMS opened at $70.76 on Friday. CMS Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $56.31 and a 1 year high of $72.40. The company has a market capitalization of $21.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.42. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $67.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $68.18.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share 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, analysts forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a $0.5425 dividend. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. CMS Energy’s dividend 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.