CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Upgraded to “Hold” by StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Monday morning.

Several other brokerages also recently issued reports on CMS. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Barclays upped their price objective on CMS Energy from $57.00 to $59.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. UBS Group lowered CMS Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Guggenheim upped their price target on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on CMS Energy from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $65.00.

CMS Energy Trading Up 2.4 %

Shares of NYSE CMS opened at $66.37 on Monday. CMS Energy has a 1 year low of $49.87 and a 1 year high of $66.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $60.90 and a 200 day moving average of $59.62. The stock has a market cap of $19.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.38.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 13.10%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.75 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.51 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 2nd. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.07%. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 62.80%.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In other news, Director Jon E. Barfield sold 2,360 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.79, for a total transaction of $143,464.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $884,859.24. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other CMS Energy news, 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $884,859.24. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 1,667 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 68,330 shares in the company, valued at $4,098,433.40. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in CMS Energy during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $36,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in CMS Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $43,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CMS Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $43,000. 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.