CMS Energy’s (CMS) Neutral Rating Reiterated at Guggenheim

Guggenheim reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) in a research report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $69.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

CMS has been the topic of several other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.15.

CMS Energy Trading Up 0.5 %

CMS opened at $68.69 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $66.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.89. CMS Energy has a fifty-two week low of $55.10 and a fifty-two week high of $72.40. The company has a market cap of $20.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.83.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a $0.5425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.36%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total value of $64,116.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,417 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,672,564.50. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.17, for a total value of $136,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,415,439.07. The trade was a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 33,686 shares of company stock valued at $2,228,084. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in CMS Energy by 310.2% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,125,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,519,000 after buying an additional 851,364 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $53,904,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 10.4% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 7,610,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $537,503,000 after purchasing an additional 719,093 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 404.8% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 892,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,053,000 after purchasing an additional 715,891 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 760.5% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 700,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,664,000 after purchasing an additional 618,767 shares during the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.