BMO Capital Markets Lowers CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Price Target to $76.00

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) had its price objective trimmed by BMO Capital Markets from $77.00 to $76.00 in a report published on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on the company. Scotiabank lifted their price target on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. StockNews.com raised CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Mizuho lowered shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $69.85.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

NYSE CMS opened at $68.39 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $69.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.79. CMS Energy has a 12-month low of $54.27 and a 12-month high of $72.40. The company has a market capitalization of $20.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.92.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. CMS Energy’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.61 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.86%.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in CMS Energy by 14.0% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 22,662,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,367,483,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,071 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of CMS Energy by 101.7% during the 2nd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,891,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $410,223,000 after buying an additional 3,473,977 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 105.9% in the 2nd quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,555,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,623,000 after acquiring an additional 800,344 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 46.2% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,332,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,275,000 after acquiring an additional 421,059 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in CMS Energy by 22.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,281,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $76,292,000 after acquiring an additional 233,633 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.