CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.54

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be given a dividend of 0.5425 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52.

CMS Energy has raised its dividend by an average of 5.8% per year over the last three years. CMS Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 53.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect CMS Energy to earn $3.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.4%.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CMS opened at $67.08 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $20.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.42. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $67.79. CMS Energy has a 12 month low of $55.10 and a 12 month high of $72.40.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. Research analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on CMS shares. Mizuho lowered shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on CMS Energy in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 64,771 shares in the company, valued at $4,415,439.07. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total value 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 approximately $9,486,285.15. This represents a 16.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 33,686 shares of company stock valued at $2,228,084 in the last ninety days. 0.53% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.