Smith Group Asset Management LLC Takes Position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 5,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $333,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. KBC Group NV grew its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 25,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,689,000 after acquiring an additional 4,806 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in CMS Energy by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 9,371 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $662,000 after purchasing an additional 3,231 shares during the period. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management purchased a new stake in CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $212,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 2.9% during the 4th quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 12,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $827,000 after buying an additional 345 shares during the period. Finally, Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 9.0% in the 4th quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 7,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $480,000 after buying an additional 593 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CMS opened at $65.83 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. CMS Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $55.10 and a twelve month high of $72.40. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $67.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.63. The firm has a market cap of $19.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.42.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on CMS. Guggenheim cut CMS Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 value of $136,340.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,415,439.07. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total value of $1,893,187.50. Following the transaction, the director now 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 33,686 shares of company stock worth $2,228,084. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.