CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Trading Up 2% – What’s Next?

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) rose 2% on Friday . The company traded as high as $74.51 and last traded at $74.60. Approximately 303,400 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 86% from the average daily volume of 2,125,473 shares. The stock had previously closed at $73.15.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CMS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a research report on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 25th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.36.

CMS Energy Price Performance

The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.47 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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, analysts predict that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a $0.5425 dividend. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.93%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.36%.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total transaction of $147,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,306,349.87. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $467,392.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 21,643 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,509,815.68. This represents a 23.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532 in the last three months. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,175,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,544,370,000 after purchasing an additional 316,011 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in CMS Energy by 32.4% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,256,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $950,227,000 after acquiring an additional 3,486,074 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 28.0% during the 4th quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,741,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $649,264,000 after acquiring an additional 2,131,269 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of CMS Energy by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,608,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $505,869,000 after acquiring an additional 98,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,986,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,049,000 after purchasing an additional 311,489 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.