CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Price Target Raised to $80.00 at BMO Capital Markets

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) had its price objective raised by BMO Capital Markets from $73.00 to $80.00 in a research report released on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Scotiabank raised their price target on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays upgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a report on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $75.36.

CMS Energy Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of CMS opened at $73.17 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.86 billion, a PE ratio of 22.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The company’s fifty day moving average is $69.98 and its 200 day moving average is $69.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.79. CMS Energy has a fifty-two week low of $56.61 and a fifty-two week high of $75.06.

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

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th were issued a $0.5425 dividend. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.97%. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is presently 65.36%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other CMS Energy news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total transaction of $467,392.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 21,643 shares in the company, valued at $1,509,815.68. This represents a 23.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total transaction of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 38,790 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. This represents a 6.05 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,200 shares of company stock valued at $789,532 over the last quarter. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 11.5% during the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 5,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $355,000 after purchasing an additional 517 shares during the last quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 171.9% in the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 1.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,822,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $128,715,000 after buying an additional 25,196 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 43.0% in the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 6,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after buying an additional 1,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC grew its position in shares of CMS Energy by 35.5% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 26,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,876,000 after buying an additional 6,959 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.