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

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $71.15.

A number of research firms have weighed in on CMS. Mizuho downgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. 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 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com raised CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Insider Transactions at CMS Energy

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $4,415,439.07. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total transaction of $1,893,187.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 144,059 shares in the company, valued at $9,486,285.15. This represents a 16.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,686 shares of company stock valued at $2,228,084 over the last ninety days. 0.53% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $694,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CMS Energy by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 94,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,267,000 after acquiring an additional 2,445 shares in the last quarter. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in CMS Energy by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 47,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,159,000 after acquiring an additional 1,182 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 78,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,207,000 after acquiring an additional 6,572 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 2,900.0% in the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CMS opened at $68.69 on Monday. 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 has a 52 week low of $55.10 and a 52 week high of $72.40. The firm has a market cap of $20.52 billion, a PE ratio of 19.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $66.80 and its 200-day moving average is $67.80.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.81% and a net margin of 14.01%. Sell-side analysts predict that CMS Energy 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 Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a $0.5425 dividend. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.