Zions Bancorporation N.A. Acquires 3,079 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. grew its stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 51.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,079 shares during the quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $601,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James Trust N.A. lifted its stake in CMS Energy by 43.0% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 6,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after acquiring an additional 1,940 shares in the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 35.5% during the third quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 26,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,876,000 after purchasing an additional 6,959 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in CMS Energy by 83.2% during the third quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 6,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $463,000 after purchasing an additional 2,976 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in CMS Energy by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 50,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,594,000 after purchasing an additional 4,271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in CMS Energy by 25.6% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total value of $174,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total transaction of $147,540.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,306,349.87. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Stock Up 1.7 %

CMS Energy stock opened at $73.24 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $69.21. CMS Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $56.61 and a 1-year high of $75.06. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 13.35%. On average, analysts predict that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.5425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is currently 65.36%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays raised CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Scotiabank raised their target price on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CMS Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.36.

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.