Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Decreases Position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its holdings in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 49.4% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 36,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 35,603 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $2,172,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $36,000. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in CMS Energy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in CMS Energy by 30.8% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. purchased a new position in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $61,000. 93.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $61.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Evercore ISI raised shares of CMS Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 14th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight 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 target price of $65.55.

CMS Energy Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:CMS traded down $0.37 during trading on Thursday, hitting $65.95. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,925,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,360,280. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $61.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.23. The company has a market capitalization of $19.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a current ratio of 1.18. CMS Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $49.87 and a fifty-two week high of $67.77.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 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 Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd will be paid a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.09%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 62.80%.

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.