CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) has received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the sixteen analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $70.36.

A number of research firms recently issued reports on CMS. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho downgraded CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America upped their price target on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th.

CMS Energy Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:CMS opened at $67.32 on Friday. CMS Energy has a 52 week low of $55.10 and a 52 week high of $72.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $69.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $66.13. The firm has a market cap of $20.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.23.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly 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. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.81% and a net margin of 14.01%. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.61 earnings per share. CMS Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect 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 was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.06%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 58.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In related news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total value of $64,116.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,672,564.50. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,415,439.07. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMS. First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in CMS Energy by 171.9% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in CMS Energy during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 206.1% in the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of CMS Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of CMS Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

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.