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

Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) have received an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $77.25.

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Barclays upgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $83.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 21st. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $81.00 price objective (up previously from $77.00) on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Friday, April 25th.

CMS Energy Trading Down 1.2%

NYSE:CMS opened at $69.22 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $72.79 and its 200-day moving average is $69.82. 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 has a 52 week low of $58.50 and a 52 week high of $76.45. The firm has a market cap of $20.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.03). CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 12.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.45 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.97 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that CMS Energy will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th will be given a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.39%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,306,349.87. This trade represents a 2.71% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total transaction of $467,392.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 21,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,509,815.68. The trade was a 23.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 13,398 shares of company stock worth $951,327. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,341,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,879,824,000 after acquiring an additional 166,328 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 32.4% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,256,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $950,227,000 after acquiring an additional 3,486,074 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 28.0% in 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 acquiring an additional 2,131,269 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,608,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $505,869,000 after acquiring an additional 98,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 1.3% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 3,026,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $227,308,000 after acquiring an additional 39,846 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.