Empirical Finance LLC Purchases 217 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS)

Empirical Finance LLC raised its holdings in shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) by 2.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in CMS Energy were worth $710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in CMS. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in CMS Energy by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 129,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,055 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in CMS Energy by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its stake in CMS Energy by 25.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 5,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $419,000 after purchasing an additional 1,192 shares in the last quarter. Huntington National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 11,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Carrera Capital Advisors purchased a new position in shares of CMS Energy during the third quarter valued at about $358,000. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on CMS. Scotiabank increased their price target on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 12th. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.29.

CMS Energy Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE CMS opened at $68.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $20.39 billion, a PE ratio of 19.49, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.41. CMS Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $55.10 and a 12 month high of $72.40. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $69.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $65.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.86%.

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.