CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Shares Down 0.4%

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) shares dropped 0.4% during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $67.36 and last traded at $67.45. Approximately 388,469 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 83% from the average daily volume of 2,309,164 shares. The stock had previously closed at $67.71.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on CMS Energy from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on CMS Energy from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on CMS Energy from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $66.82.

CMS Energy Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a 50 day moving average of $62.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $60.88. The firm has a market cap of $20.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.38.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 2nd. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 62.80%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Jon E. Barfield sold 2,360 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.79, for a total value of $143,464.40. Following the transaction, the director now owns 14,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $884,859.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 1,667 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total value of $99,986.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,098,433.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Jon E. Barfield sold 2,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.79, for a total value of $143,464.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,556 shares in the company, valued at $884,859.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 101.7% in 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 acquiring an additional 3,473,977 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 320.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,305,602 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $250,026,000 after buying an additional 3,282,697 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 14.0% in the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 22,662,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,367,483,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786,071 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the fourth quarter worth $111,004,000. Finally, Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in CMS Energy by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,208,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $360,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234,791 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.