Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Stock Price

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) had its target price cut by Morgan Stanley from $69.00 to $67.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

CMS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Evercore ISI raised CMS Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.21.

CMS Energy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE CMS opened at $69.52 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $69.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $65.48. The company has a market capitalization of $20.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.41. CMS Energy has a 1 year low of $55.10 and a 1 year high of $72.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.88 billion. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.81% and a net margin of 14.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.61 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that CMS Energy will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. 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%. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 58.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,415,439.07. This trade represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

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

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.