Laura Wright Sells 2,500 Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Stock

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total transaction of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. This trade represents a 6.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

CMS Energy Price Performance

NYSE CMS opened at $71.49 on Friday. CMS Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $56.31 and a 52 week high of $72.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market cap of $21.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $67.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $68.27.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 12.02%. Analysts forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be issued a $0.5425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.04%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMS. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 1.6% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 33,261 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,349,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. lifted its stake in CMS Energy by 3.1% during the third quarter. Whittier Trust Co. now owns 9,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $673,000 after purchasing an additional 283 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in CMS Energy by 28.5% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $707,000 after purchasing an additional 2,224 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in CMS Energy by 15.9% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 38,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,743,000 after purchasing an additional 5,330 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in CMS Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $179,990,000. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on CMS shares. 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 research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.69.

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.