CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Short Interest Up 7.9% in June

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) was the recipient of a significant increase in short interest in June. As of June 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,780,000 shares, an increase of 7.9% from the May 31st total of 9,060,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,440,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.0 days.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CMS stock traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $58.87. The stock had a trading volume of 898,215 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,434,981. The firm has a market cap of $17.55 billion, a PE ratio of 17.99, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $61.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $59.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.82, a current ratio of 1.35 and a quick ratio of 1.05. CMS Energy has a fifty-two week low of $49.87 and a fifty-two week high of $63.76.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.05. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The firm had revenue of $2.18 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th were given a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, May 14th. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 62.80%.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brian F. Rich sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.10, for a total transaction of $122,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 97,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,968,370.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 1,667 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total value of $99,986.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,330 shares in the company, valued at $4,098,433.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brian F. Rich sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.10, for a total transaction of $122,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 97,682 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,968,370.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,027 shares of company stock valued at $365,651 over the last quarter. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CMS Energy

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 320.9% in the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,305,602 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $250,026,000 after purchasing an additional 3,282,697 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 22,662,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,367,483,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786,071 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $111,004,000. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in CMS Energy by 6,027.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,740,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,453,000 after purchasing an additional 1,712,368 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,208,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $360,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234,791 shares during the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on CMS. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Barclays raised their price target on CMS Energy from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 13th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $64.20.

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.