CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Downgraded to Sell Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning.

Several other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CMS. Barclays raised CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 target price on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank increased their price target on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CMS Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.36.

CMS Energy Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE CMS opened at $74.71 on Wednesday. CMS Energy has a 1-year low of $56.61 and a 1-year high of $75.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company has a 50-day moving average of $70.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.38. The company has a market cap of $22.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 13.35%. As a group, equities analysts expect that CMS Energy will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is 65.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total transaction of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,709,093.60. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total value of $147,540.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 71,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,306,349.87. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Walleye Capital LLC acquired a new position in CMS Energy during the third quarter worth $561,000. Atom Investors LP acquired a new position in shares of CMS Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $260,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 63,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,485,000 after acquiring an additional 13,130 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its position in shares of CMS Energy by 1,122.4% in the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 479,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,845,000 after acquiring an additional 440,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 47.1% during the third quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 9,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $706,000 after acquiring an additional 3,200 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

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.