CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Shares Sold by First Trust Advisors LP

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its stake in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS - Free Report) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 878,791 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 41,738 shares during the period. First Trust Advisors LP owned 0.29% of CMS Energy worth $58,571,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Virtu Financial LLC boosted its stake in CMS Energy by 18.0% during the third quarter. Virtu Financial LLC now owns 18,358 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,297,000 after buying an additional 2,800 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the third quarter valued at $248,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new position in CMS Energy during the third quarter valued at $589,000. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 19,780 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,397,000 after buying an additional 2,965 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 408,331 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $28,840,000 after buying an additional 28,695 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on CMS shares. UBS Group increased their target price 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. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price 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. StockNews.com downgraded CMS Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Friday, April 18th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $76.50.

CMS Energy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:CMS traded up $0.30 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $72.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 385,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,275,117. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $72.73 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.67. CMS Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $58.50 and a 52 week high of $76.45. The company has a market capitalization of $21.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.34.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $2.45 billion during 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be issued a $0.5425 dividend. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. CMS Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 64.39%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total transaction of $467,392.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 21,643 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,509,815.68. This trade represents a 23.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total transaction of $147,540.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 71,931 shares in the company, valued at $5,306,349.87. The trade was a 2.71 % 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 in the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is 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.