Boothbay Fund Management LLC Takes $256,000 Position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Boothbay Fund Management LLC purchased a new stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 3,842 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,256,949 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $950,227,000 after buying an additional 3,486,074 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of CMS Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $171,798,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 28.0% in the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,741,389 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $649,264,000 after purchasing an additional 2,131,269 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD bought a new stake in CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $53,904,000. Finally, Prudential Financial Inc. increased its stake in CMS Energy by 207.9% during the 4th quarter. Prudential Financial Inc. now owns 1,115,524 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $74,350,000 after purchasing an additional 753,182 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company's stock.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:CMS traded down $0.61 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $73.34. 430,889 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,281,352. CMS Energy Co. has a one year low of $58.50 and a one year high of $76.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $72.92 and a 200 day moving average of $69.84. The company has a market cap of $21.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.79.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.32 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 12.02%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be issued a $0.5425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.96%. CMS Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.39%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on CMS. Morgan Stanley set a $74.00 target price on CMS Energy and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America boosted their target price on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Barclays upgraded CMS Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CMS Energy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.25.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total transaction of $147,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,306,349.87. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the firm'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 owns 38,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,709,093.60. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532 over the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.