CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s What Happened

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $72.48 and last traded at $72.05, with a volume of 170736 shares. The stock had previously closed at $71.49.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on CMS shares. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Barclays raised 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on 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 raised their target price on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on CMS Energy in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $76.00 price objective for the company. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $71.69.

CMS Energy Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company’s 50-day moving average is $67.22 and its 200-day moving average is $68.28. The stock has a market cap of $21.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 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 research analysts expect that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Monday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.5425 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 65.36%.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total value of $1,893,187.50. Following the completion of 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.22, for a total transaction of $134,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 63,197 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,248,102.34. This represents a 3.07 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 39,950 shares of company stock valued at $2,669,620 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Creative Planning raised its position in shares of CMS Energy by 1.6% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 33,261 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,349,000 after acquiring an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in CMS Energy by 28.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 10,014 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $707,000 after purchasing an additional 2,224 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in CMS Energy by 15.9% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 38,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,743,000 after purchasing an additional 5,330 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 14,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,022,000 after purchasing an additional 1,532 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 5,060 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $357,000 after purchasing an additional 496 shares during the last quarter. 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.