Freestone Grove Partners LP Makes New Investment in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Freestone Grove Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 13,845 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $923,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 106.8% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 2,900.0% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 720 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $48,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the period. Optiver Holding B.V. boosted its position in CMS Energy by 39.2% in the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 813 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Bank Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $61,000. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. 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. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $81.00 price target (up from $77.00) on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $77.25.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 71,931 shares in the company, valued at $5,306,349.87. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $467,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 13,398 shares of company stock valued at $951,327. Insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

CMS Energy Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of CMS Energy stock traded down $0.31 on Friday, reaching $71.75. The company had a trading volume of 777,302 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,281,967. The firm has a market cap of $21.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.61, 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 current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $72.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.85. CMS Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $58.50 and a 1 year high of $76.45.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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). CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 12.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.45 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 EPS. The company's revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 9th. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. CMS Energy's payout ratio is 64.39%.

CMS Energy Company 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.