CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.54

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.5425 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52.

CMS Energy has raised its dividend by an average of 5.8% per year over the last three years. CMS Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 53.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect CMS Energy to earn $3.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.4%.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CMS stock opened at $68.19 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $66.84 and a 200-day moving average of $67.79. The company has a market cap of $20.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86, a current ratio of 1.23 and a quick ratio of 0.83. CMS Energy has a one year low of $55.10 and a one year high of $72.40.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. Equities research analysts forecast that CMS Energy will post 3.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on CMS. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of 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. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $71.00.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In related news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total value of $64,116.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,417 shares in the company, valued at $1,672,564.50. The trade was a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total transaction of $1,893,187.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 144,059 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,486,285.15. This trade represents a 16.64 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 33,686 shares of company stock worth $2,228,084 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.53% 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.