CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Raised to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday morning.

Several other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Barclays upgraded CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CMS Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.36.

CMS Energy Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE CMS opened at $72.08 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $70.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. CMS Energy has a 52-week low of $56.61 and a 52-week high of $75.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.79.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (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%. Sell-side analysts expect that CMS Energy will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 65.36%.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total transaction of $467,392.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 21,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,509,815.68. This represents a 23.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total transaction of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,256,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $950,227,000 after purchasing an additional 3,486,074 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $171,798,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in CMS Energy by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,741,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $649,264,000 after buying an additional 2,131,269 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $89,173,000. Finally, Fisher Funds Management LTD purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $53,904,000. 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.