CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) have been given an average rating of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven brokerages that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.64.

Several brokerages have issued reports on CMS. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $57.00 to $58.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Guggenheim upgraded CMS Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $60.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. UBS Group cut CMS Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $65.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Wolfe Research raised CMS Energy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $62.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 4th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.78, for a total transaction of $202,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 68,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,985,144.38. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.53% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMS. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in CMS Energy by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,561 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $459,000 after buying an additional 168 shares in the last quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC grew its position in shares of CMS Energy by 2.3% during the first quarter. Kinneret Advisory LLC now owns 7,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $542,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Walleye Trading LLC raised its stake in CMS Energy by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Walleye Trading LLC now owns 6,414 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after purchasing an additional 181 shares during the period. CI Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. CI Investments Inc. now owns 6,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in CMS Energy by 30.8% in the 4th quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:CMS opened at $59.11 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.64, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.66. CMS Energy has a one year low of $49.87 and a one year high of $63.76. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $58.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $56.93.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.04 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 11.89%. The company had revenue of $1.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.62 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 14.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that CMS Energy will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is presently 68.44%.

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.