CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Sees Large Decrease in Short Interest

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,010,000 shares, a decline of 5.4% from the October 31st total of 8,470,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on CMS. StockNews.com cut shares of CMS Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Mizuho cut shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.21.

Insider Transactions at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of the company’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 transaction of $64,116.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,672,564.50. This represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.17, for a total transaction of $136,340.00. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CMS. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in CMS Energy by 171.9% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the third quarter valued at $40,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 431.3% in the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 578 shares during the period. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the second quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 206.1% in the third quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CMS opened at $67.50 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $69.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.86. CMS Energy has a fifty-two week low of $55.10 and a fifty-two week high of $72.40. The firm has a market cap of $20.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.41.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. CMS Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that CMS Energy will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.86%.

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.