CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Wednesday.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho cut shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on CMS Energy from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on CMS Energy in a report on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $70.29.

CMS Energy Stock Down 0.1 %

CMS opened at $68.52 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 1.23. The company has a market cap of $20.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.58, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.41. CMS Energy has a one year low of $55.10 and a one year high of $72.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $69.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $65.40.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 58.86%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.17, for a total transaction of $136,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 64,771 shares in the company, valued at $4,415,439.07. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CMS Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 48,203.8% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 50,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,059,000 after purchasing an additional 50,614 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in CMS Energy by 79.9% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 731,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,569,000 after purchasing an additional 325,101 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 402.6% in the first quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP now owns 19,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after buying an additional 15,700 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in CMS Energy by 325.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 26,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,582,000 after buying an additional 20,056 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in CMS Energy by 46.2% during the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 1,332,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,275,000 after buying an additional 421,059 shares during the period. 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.