CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Sees Large Growth in Short Interest

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) was the target of a significant increase in short interest in the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 8,950,000 shares, an increase of 9.7% from the August 15th total of 8,160,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,160,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMS has been the subject of several recent research reports. StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $68.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of CMS Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $67.75.

CMS Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:CMS traded down $0.26 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $70.00. 1,506,225 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,309,241. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $65.90 and a 200-day moving average price of $62.13. CMS Energy has a twelve month low of $49.87 and a twelve month high of $70.74. The stock has a market cap of $20.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.34, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 1.18, a quick ratio of 0.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that CMS Energy will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 2nd were issued a dividend of $0.51 per share. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 2nd. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is currently 62.80%.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CMS. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 101.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,891,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $410,223,000 after purchasing an additional 3,473,977 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its stake in CMS Energy by 320.9% in the 4th quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,305,602 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $250,026,000 after purchasing an additional 3,282,697 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in CMS Energy by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 22,662,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,367,483,000 after acquiring an additional 2,786,071 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $111,004,000. Finally, Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 24.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 6,208,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $360,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,234,791 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.