CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Given Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" by Analysts

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) has been given an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by the twelve ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $77.00.

CMS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised shares of CMS Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $71.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of CMS Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st.

CMS Energy Stock Up 0.9%

CMS opened at $69.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The company's 50-day moving average is $71.67 and its 200 day moving average is $70.02. CMS Energy has a fifty-two week low of $58.50 and a fifty-two week high of $76.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.39.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.02 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.03). CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 12.02%. The firm had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.97 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that CMS Energy will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.5425 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.10%. CMS Energy's payout ratio is 64.39%.

Insider Transactions at CMS Energy

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,198 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.61, for a total value of $161,794.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 69,571 shares in the company, valued at $5,121,121.31. This trade represents a 3.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of CMS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in CMS Energy by 0.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 38,341,416 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,879,824,000 after acquiring an additional 166,328 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in CMS Energy by 16.1% during the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 16,554,877 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,243,438,000 after acquiring an additional 2,297,928 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in CMS Energy by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,741,389 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $649,264,000 after acquiring an additional 2,131,269 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in CMS Energy by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,608,680 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $505,869,000 after acquiring an additional 98,910 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in CMS Energy by 20.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 4,483,585 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $336,762,000 after acquiring an additional 753,173 shares in 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.

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