Short Interest in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Declines By 5.4%

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) saw a large decline in short interest in the month of November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 8,010,000 shares, a decline of 5.4% from the October 31st total of 8,470,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,150,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho lowered CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $72.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. They set a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and ten have assigned 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 $70.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.17, for a total transaction of $136,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,415,439.07. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total transaction of $64,116.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,417 shares in the company, valued at $1,672,564.50. The trade was a 3.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CMS. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its position in CMS Energy by 171.9% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 206.1% during the 3rd quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after acquiring an additional 472 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 431.3% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the second quarter valued at about $43,000. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CMS Energy Stock Down 1.9 %

Shares of CMS opened at $68.40 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.81. CMS Energy has a one year low of $55.10 and a one year high of $72.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.41.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.78 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that CMS Energy will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.86%.

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.