CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) were down 0.8% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $65.57 and last traded at $65.79. Approximately 191,198 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 92% from the average daily volume of 2,349,233 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.32.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $61.00 to $58.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective 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. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of CMS Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. 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, CMS Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $65.55.

CMS Energy Trading Up 0.7 %

The firm’s 50-day moving average is $61.78 and its 200-day moving average is $60.29. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $19.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.38.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.25% and a net margin of 13.10%. The business had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.75 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 2nd will be paid a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 2nd. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 62.80%.

Insider Transactions at CMS Energy

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 1,667 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total transaction of $99,986.66. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly 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 available at the SEC website. In related news, Director Jon E. Barfield sold 2,360 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.79, for a total value of $143,464.40. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 14,556 shares in the company, valued at approximately $884,859.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $99,986.66. Following 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 48,203.8% during the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 50,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,059,000 after buying an additional 50,614 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 352,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,267,000 after buying an additional 49,630 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,680,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $97,579,000 after purchasing an additional 40,302 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,038,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $60,326,000 after purchasing an additional 18,636 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 132.8% during the fourth quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,071,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,100,000 after purchasing an additional 611,282 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.