CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Upgraded at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday.

CMS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Barclays raised CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, CMS Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $75.36.

CMS Energy Price Performance

Shares of CMS stock opened at $73.16 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $21.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.04, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. 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. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $70.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.23.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts expect that CMS Energy will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.5425 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.97%. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is currently 65.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total value of $174,600.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at $2,709,093.60. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,306,349.87. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532 over the last ninety days. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CMS Energy

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 316,011 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 3,486,074 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 28.0% during the 4th 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 valued at $505,869,000 after buying an additional 98,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 11.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,986,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,049,000 after acquiring an additional 311,489 shares during the period. 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.