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

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $75.36.

CMS has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America upped their price target on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays raised CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th.

CMS Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CMS opened at $74.18 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $22.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.34, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.57. CMS Energy has a 12 month low of $56.61 and a 12 month high of $75.06. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $70.47 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.27.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 13.35%. Equities research analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.5425 dividend. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CMS Energy news, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total value of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 38,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,709,093.60. The trade was a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total transaction of $147,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 71,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,306,349.87. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532 in the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 173 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Kinetics Asset Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $1,107,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 25.6% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 3,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $266,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in CMS Energy by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $317,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. 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.