Bank of America Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Stock

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) had its price objective increased by Bank of America from $73.00 to $80.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Bank of America currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on CMS. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays raised CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.36.

CMS Energy Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:CMS opened at $73.24 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $21.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.24 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.21. CMS Energy has a 12 month low of $56.61 and a 12 month high of $75.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

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

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.96%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 65.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total value of $147,540.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,306,349.87. This trade represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,509,815.68. This represents a 23.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532 in the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CMS Energy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mattson Financial Services LLC increased its position in CMS Energy by 811.2% during the 4th quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC now owns 1,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $115,000 after purchasing an additional 1,452 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 25.4% in the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 4,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $270,000 after buying an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Cim LLC boosted its position in CMS Energy by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Cim LLC now owns 18,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,204,000 after buying an additional 346 shares during the period. Brooklyn FI LLC bought a new stake in CMS Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $308,000. Finally, LifeWealth Investments LLC acquired a new position in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $322,000. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.