CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Hits New 1-Year High – What’s Next?

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $75.43 and last traded at $74.92, with a volume of 217121 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $74.18.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Scotiabank lifted their target price on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays raised shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 target price on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, CMS Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.36.

CMS Energy Stock Up 1.7 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $70.47 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.54 billion, a PE ratio of 22.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders 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 2.88%. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is presently 65.36%.

Insider Activity

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 stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $467,392.00. Following the sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total transaction of $174,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. This trade represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,175,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,544,370,000 after acquiring an additional 316,011 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in CMS Energy by 32.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,486,074 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 28.0% during the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 98,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in CMS Energy by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,986,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $199,049,000 after buying an additional 311,489 shares during the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.