CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Lifted to Hold at Evercore ISI

Evercore ISI upgraded shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) to a hold rating in a report released on Friday, Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on CMS. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on CMS Energy from $68.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp increased their price objective on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. UBS Group downgraded shares of CMS Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $65.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CMS Energy has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $65.00.

CMS Energy Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of CMS stock opened at $63.66 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $60.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $59.48. The firm has a market cap of $19.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.38. CMS Energy has a 12-month low of $49.87 and a 12-month high of $64.28. 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 (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 2nd. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.80%.

Insider Transactions at CMS Energy

In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 1,667 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total transaction of $99,986.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,098,433.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 1,667 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total value of $99,986.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 68,330 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,098,433.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Jon E. Barfield sold 2,360 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Friday, June 7th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 6,027 shares of company stock valued at $365,651 in the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new position in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC lifted its position in CMS Energy by 431.3% in the 2nd 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 purchased a new stake in CMS Energy during the 1st quarter valued at $43,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the second quarter worth $43,000. 93.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.