CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $77.25.

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group increased their target price on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $74.00 target price on shares of CMS Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of CMS Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,198 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.61, for a total value of $161,794.78. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 69,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,121,121.31. This represents a 3.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in CMS Energy by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,341,416 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,879,824,000 after acquiring an additional 166,328 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 16.1% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,554,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,243,438,000 after purchasing an additional 2,297,928 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,741,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $649,264,000 after purchasing an additional 2,131,269 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,608,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $505,869,000 after purchasing an additional 98,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 20.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,483,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $336,762,000 after buying an additional 753,173 shares during the period. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CMS Energy Price Performance

NYSE:CMS opened at $71.94 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The firm has a market cap of $21.52 billion, a PE ratio of 21.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42. CMS Energy has a 12 month low of $58.50 and a 12 month high of $76.45. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $72.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.86.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.03). CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 13.35%. The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 9th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 64.39%.

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.