CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Director Sells $174,600.00 in Stock

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total transaction of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at $2,709,093.60. The trade was a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

CMS Energy Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of CMS Energy stock opened at $71.49 on Friday. CMS Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $56.31 and a 1 year high of $72.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $21.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.53, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $67.14 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.19.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 12.02%. Analysts forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.36%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BankPlus Trust Department purchased a new position in CMS Energy during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. First Horizon Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 171.9% in the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 106.8% in the 4th quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 235 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the 3rd quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 206.1% in 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. 93.57% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on CMS. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays raised shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $71.69.

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.