CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com lowered shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning.

CMS has been the subject of several other reports. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America raised their target price on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on CMS Energy in a research note on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho lowered CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.21.

CMS Energy Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE CMS opened at $69.71 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $69.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $65.78. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. CMS Energy has a 12-month low of $55.10 and a 12-month high of $72.40. The company has a market cap of $20.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.41.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 12.81% and a net margin of 14.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th were given a $0.515 dividend. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.96%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.86%.

Insider Activity

In other CMS Energy news, 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 value of $64,116.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,672,564.50. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,415,439.07. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 10.4% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,610,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $537,503,000 after purchasing an additional 719,093 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of CMS Energy by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,509,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $528,713,000 after buying an additional 105,062 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 0.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,155,842 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $152,267,000 after acquiring an additional 18,403 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,822,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $128,715,000 after acquiring an additional 25,196 shares during the period. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 105.9% during the second quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,555,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,623,000 after purchasing an additional 800,344 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.