Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Stock Price

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) had its target price decreased by Morgan Stanley from $69.00 to $67.00 in a research note released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other analysts have also commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI raised shares of CMS Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Mizuho cut shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.21.

CMS Energy Price Performance

CMS stock opened at $69.66 on Friday. CMS Energy has a 1 year low of $55.10 and a 1 year high of $72.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.81 billion, a PE ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $65.57.

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

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.17, for a total transaction of $136,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,415,439.07. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total value of $64,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,672,564.50. The trade was a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CMS. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 101.7% in the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,891,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $410,223,000 after acquiring an additional 3,473,977 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in CMS Energy by 310.2% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,125,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,519,000 after purchasing an additional 851,364 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its position in CMS Energy by 105.9% during the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,555,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,623,000 after purchasing an additional 800,344 shares during the last quarter. Railway Pension Investments Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the second quarter valued at about $47,082,000. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 404.8% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 892,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,053,000 after buying an additional 715,891 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Company 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.