Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS)

Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) in a report released on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $76.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on CMS. KeyCorp lifted their target price on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI raised CMS Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Mizuho lowered CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $70.29.

CMS Energy Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of CMS opened at $69.10 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $69.85 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.85. The stock has a market cap of $20.65 billion, a PE ratio of 19.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.41. CMS Energy has a 12 month low of $54.27 and a 12 month 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.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $1.74 billion for 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.61 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that CMS Energy will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be issued a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 dividend yield of 2.98%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 58.86%.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMS. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of CMS Energy by 431.3% during the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $43,000. Innealta Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Covestor Ltd raised its position in shares of CMS Energy by 206.1% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the period. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $56,000. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.