HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in CMS Energy Corporation $CMS

Key Points

• HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in CMS Energy Corporation by 80.4% in the first quarter, holding 58,310 shares worth approximately $4.38 million after selling 238,876 shares.
• CMS Energy reported a 14.4% increase in revenue to $1.84 billion for the quarter, beating analysts' expectations and achieving an earnings per share of $0.71.
• The company declared a $0.5425 quarterly dividend, representing a 3.0% dividend yield, with a payout ratio of 64.20% for its investors.

HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC cut its holdings in CMS Energy Corporation (NYSE:CMS - Free Report) by 80.4% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 58,310 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 238,876 shares during the period. HITE Hedge Asset Management LLC's holdings in CMS Energy were worth $4,380,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Optiver Holding B.V. increased its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 39.2% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 813 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in CMS Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $72,000. NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in CMS Energy during the first quarter worth approximately $75,000. Grove Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 167.3% during the 1st quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 1,072 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $81,000 after buying an additional 671 shares during the last quarter. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $82,000. 93.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley set a $71.00 price target on CMS Energy and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays upped their price target on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $81.00 price target (up from $77.00) on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued a "peer perform" rating on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.25.

CMS Energy Price Performance

NYSE:CMS traded up $0.3130 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $73.0930. 1,807,168 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,469,819. CMS Energy Corporation has a 1 year low of $63.97 and a 1 year high of $76.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.93, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 1.00. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $71.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.61. The company has a market cap of $21.88 billion, a PE ratio of 21.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.36.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.71 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.67 by $0.04. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 12.76%.The company had revenue of $1.84 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.66 earnings per share. CMS Energy's revenue was up 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. CMS Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.540-3.600 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that CMS Energy Corporation 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, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. CMS Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.20%.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.62, for a total value of $147,240.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 68,036 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,008,810.32. The trade was a 2.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

CMS Energy 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.