CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Stock Rating Upgraded by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report released on Wednesday morning.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on CMS. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho cut shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, CMS Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.36.

CMS Energy Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of CMS Energy stock opened at $66.56 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $67.41 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.09. The company has a market cap of $19.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.02, a PEG ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.42. CMS Energy has a 12-month low of $55.10 and a 12-month high of $72.40.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.515 dividend. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.09%. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 58.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total transaction of $1,893,187.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 144,059 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,486,285.15. This represents a 16.64 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $4,415,439.07. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,686 shares of company stock valued at $2,228,084. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CMS Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc. now owns 11,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,147 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 1,631 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in CMS Energy by 992.4% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 251,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,075,000 after acquiring an additional 228,501 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its holdings in CMS Energy by 10.4% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,610,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $537,503,000 after acquiring an additional 719,093 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in CMS Energy by 14.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 884,878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,677,000 after acquiring an additional 109,424 shares in the last quarter. 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.