CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Stock Price Up 0.2% After Analyst Upgrade

Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) traded up 0.2% during mid-day trading on Thursday after Bank of America raised their price target on the stock from $69.00 to $73.00. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the stock. CMS Energy traded as high as $67.67 and last traded at $67.53. 189,589 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average session volume of 2,302,241 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.41.

Several other brokerages have also weighed in on CMS. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com raised CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on CMS Energy from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $67.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Jon E. Barfield sold 2,360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.79, for a total transaction of $143,464.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $884,859.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 1,667 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total transaction of $99,986.66. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,098,433.40. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Jon E. Barfield sold 2,360 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.79, for a total value of $143,464.40. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $884,859.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of CMS. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 27,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,658,000 after buying an additional 1,631 shares during the period. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its stake in CMS Energy by 15.3% in the second quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 6,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 878 shares during the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp boosted its stake in CMS Energy by 29.9% in the 2nd quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 735,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,768,000 after purchasing an additional 169,160 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 118.0% during the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 3,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC grew its stake in CMS Energy by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC now owns 313,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,662,000 after purchasing an additional 19,349 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Trading Up 0.1 %

The stock has a 50-day moving average of $62.97 and a 200 day moving average of $60.88. The stock has a market cap of $20.15 billion, a PE ratio of 20.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.75 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 2nd. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.80%.

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.