CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Short Interest Update

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest during the month of March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,810,000 shares, a decline of 13.1% from the February 28th total of 8,990,000 shares. Currently, 2.6% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 2,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 3.5 days.

CMS Energy Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of CMS traded up $1.02 on Thursday, hitting $75.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,764,383 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,234,117. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $70.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. CMS Energy has a fifty-two week low of $56.61 and a fifty-two week high of $76.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 13.35%. On average, equities research analysts expect that CMS Energy will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were given a $0.5425 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.87%. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is currently 65.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

CMS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays raised CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Scotiabank raised their target price 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, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.36.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total value of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 2.71 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $333,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,342,000 after buying an additional 5,662 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 76,560 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,103,000 after acquiring an additional 392 shares during the period. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. grew its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 49.9% in the fourth quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 26,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,787,000 after acquiring an additional 8,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its position in CMS Energy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 170,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,377,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

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.