CMS Energy Co. (CMS) To Go Ex-Dividend on February 14th

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, February 6th,RTT News reports. Shareholders 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 yield of 3.16%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52.

CMS Energy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 5.8% annually over the last three years. CMS Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 53.2% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect CMS Energy to earn $3.88 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 53.1%.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

Shares of CMS opened at $68.68 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $20.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.42. The company’s fifty day moving average is $66.81 and its 200-day moving average is $68.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.83, a current ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.94. CMS Energy has a 12 month low of $55.10 and a 12 month high of $72.40.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on CMS shares. Mizuho cut shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 price objective on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. StockNews.com upgraded CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $71.15.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 144,059 shares in the company, valued at $9,486,285.15. This trade represents a 16.64 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total transaction of $64,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,417 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,672,564.50. This trade represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 33,686 shares of company stock worth $2,228,084. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.