Inspire Investing LLC Sells 2,542 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Inspire Investing LLC lowered its stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 7.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 30,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,542 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $2,145,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its stake in CMS Energy by 48,203.8% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 50,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,059,000 after acquiring an additional 50,614 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in CMS Energy by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 352,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,267,000 after purchasing an additional 49,630 shares during the period. Duality Advisers LP increased its stake in CMS Energy by 1,854.4% during the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 114,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,890,000 after purchasing an additional 108,350 shares in the last quarter. Viking Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in CMS Energy during the first quarter worth $2,655,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 56.8% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,511,000 after buying an additional 27,053 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on CMS shares. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Barclays increased their price objective on CMS Energy from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Guggenheim lifted 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. Bank of America upped their price target on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $69.38.

CMS Energy Price Performance

CMS opened at $69.34 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $20.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.14, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.41. 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 $52.12 and a fifty-two week high of $71.57. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $68.43 and a 200 day moving average of $63.45.

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

CMS Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.94%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 62.80%.

About CMS Energy

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.