Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. Has $213,000 Position in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. increased its stake in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc.’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $213,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new stake in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 106.8% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 171.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in CMS Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 2,900.0% in the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares during the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In other news, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total value of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. This trade represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,306,349.87. This trade represents 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 three months. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on CMS shares. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 target price on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank upped their price target on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their price target on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays upgraded CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CMS Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $74.36.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

CMS opened at $73.49 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $21.96 billion, a PE ratio of 22.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. CMS Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $56.61 and a 1 year high of $75.06. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.12.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share 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 year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.5425 dividend. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 65.36%.

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.