CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Upgraded by StockNews.com to Hold Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report report published on Wednesday.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank increased 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $70.36.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CMS stock opened at $66.56 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $67.41 and a 200-day moving average of $67.09. The company has a market cap of $19.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.83. CMS Energy has a one year low of $55.10 and a one year high of $72.40.

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

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.09%. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is presently 58.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.17, for a total transaction of $136,340.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,415,439.07. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total transaction of $64,116.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,417 shares in the company, valued at $1,672,564.50. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 33,686 shares of company stock worth $2,228,084 over the last three months. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 0.6% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 25,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,511,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the period. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $56,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $297,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the period. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 5.4% in the third quarter. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the period. Finally, Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 1.3% in the third quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC now owns 15,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,107,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. 93.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.