J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Acquires Shares of 37,511 CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG bought a new position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 37,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,500,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of CMS. Virtu Financial LLC increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 18.0% during the 3rd quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 18,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,297,000 after purchasing an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in CMS Energy in the third quarter worth about $248,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new position in CMS Energy in the third quarter valued at about $589,000. Tidal Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 17.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,780 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,397,000 after purchasing an additional 2,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in CMS Energy by 7.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 408,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,840,000 after purchasing an additional 28,695 shares during the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on CMS. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on CMS Energy from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Barclays raised CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of CMS Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.73.

Insider Activity

In other CMS Energy 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,509,815.68. This represents a 23.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total value of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 38,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,709,093.60. The trade was a 6.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CMS Energy Price Performance

CMS opened at $72.17 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.74, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.34. 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 Co. has a 12-month low of $58.50 and a 12-month high of $76.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $72.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.56.

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

CMS Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a $0.5425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.36%.

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.