Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 178 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Sentry Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,092 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 178 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $73,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in CMS Energy by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 164,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,606,000 after purchasing an additional 1,205 shares during the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 10.4% in the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,286 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 404 shares in the last quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 25.7% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE raised its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 0.8% in the third quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 238,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,845,000 after buying an additional 1,853 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cigna Investments Inc. New acquired a new position in CMS Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $218,000. Institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays upgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com raised CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.69.

CMS Energy Price Performance

Shares of CMS opened at $72.43 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market cap of $21.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $67.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.45. CMS Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $56.61 and a 1 year high of $73.37.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 12.02%. On average, equities analysts predict that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th will be given a $0.5425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total transaction of $1,893,187.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 144,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,486,285.15. This represents a 16.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.22, for a total transaction of $134,440.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 63,197 shares in the company, valued at $4,248,102.34. This trade represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 39,950 shares of company stock valued at $2,669,620. 0.40% of the stock is 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.