Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 367,299 CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 367,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $24,481,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Smith Group Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in CMS Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $333,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 39.1% in the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,342,000 after buying an additional 5,662 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its position in CMS Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 76,560 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,103,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its holdings in CMS Energy by 49.9% during the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 26,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,787,000 after buying an additional 8,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. raised its position in CMS Energy by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 170,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,377,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $80.00 to $77.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.09.

CMS Energy Price Performance

CMS Energy stock opened at $72.81 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. CMS Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $58.50 and a 52-week high of $76.45. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $72.34 and its 200 day moving average is $69.58. The company has a market cap of $21.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.34.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 65.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total transaction of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at $2,709,093.60. The trade was a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total value of $147,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares in the company, 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. Insiders have sold 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

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.