Hilton Capital Management LLC Acquires 852 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Hilton Capital Management LLC increased its position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 19,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 852 shares during the quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $1,302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intact Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in CMS Energy by 31.2% in the 4th quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 95,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,378,000 after acquiring an additional 22,740 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in CMS Energy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 76,560 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,103,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments purchased a new position in CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $801,000. Achmea Investment Management B.V. grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 11.6% during the 4th quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V. now owns 27,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,846,000 after buying an additional 2,882 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vestcor Inc grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 66.7% during the 4th quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 15,007 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,000,000 after buying an additional 6,003 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CMS stock opened at $72.83 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.79. CMS Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $56.61 and a fifty-two week high of $75.06. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.91. The company has a market capitalization of $21.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.94, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.5425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is presently 65.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank lifted their target price on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Friday, February 7th. Barclays raised CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. StockNews.com raised CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $73.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In related news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the company’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 transaction of $467,392.00. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total value of $147,540.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,306,349.87. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 39,950 shares of company stock worth $2,682,720. 0.53% of the stock is currently 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.