CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) saw a large growth in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,950,000 shares, a growth of 9.7% from the August 15th total of 8,160,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,160,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CMS. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CMS Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $67.75.

CMS Energy Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE CMS traded down $0.26 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $70.00. 1,506,225 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,309,241. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. CMS Energy has a fifty-two week low of $49.87 and a fifty-two week high of $70.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $65.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.13. The firm has a market cap of $20.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.40.

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

CMS Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 2nd. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.80%.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMS. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in CMS Energy during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 431.3% in the second quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the first quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in CMS Energy during the second quarter worth about $43,000. 93.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.