Empirical Finance LLC Sells 657 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Empirical Finance LLC trimmed its position in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 6.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 657 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $585,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $4,390,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its stake in CMS Energy by 15.6% during the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 357,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,761,000 after acquiring an additional 48,265 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. bought a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $244,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 499,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,034,000 after purchasing an additional 2,578 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 28.2% in the 4th quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 8,342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $484,000 after purchasing an additional 1,835 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on CMS shares. Evercore ISI raised shares of CMS Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on CMS Energy from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, May 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.33.

CMS Energy Price Performance

Shares of CMS opened at $67.83 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $63.30 and a 200-day moving average of $61.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The company has a market capitalization of $20.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.38. CMS Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $49.87 and a 1 year high of $68.08.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The company’s revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.80%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 1,667 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total value of $99,986.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,098,433.40. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 1,667 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total transaction of $99,986.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,098,433.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Jon E. Barfield sold 2,360 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.79, for a total transaction of $143,464.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 14,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $884,859.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

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.