CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Given New $80.00 Price Target at Bank of America

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) had its price target boosted by equities researchers at Bank of America from $73.00 to $80.00 in a research report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target points to a potential upside of 8.87% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms also recently commented on CMS. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com upgraded CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group raised their price target on CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 target price on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.36.

CMS Energy Price Performance

Shares of CMS opened at $73.49 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $21.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.13, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $69.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.12. CMS Energy has a 1-year low of $56.61 and a 1-year high of $75.06.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 12.02%. On average, research analysts forecast that CMS Energy will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total transaction of $174,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at $2,709,093.60. This trade represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of CMS Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total value of $147,540.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 71,931 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,306,349.87. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMS. BankPlus Trust Department bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 106.8% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 235 shares during the period. First Horizon Advisors Inc. boosted its position in CMS Energy by 171.9% during the third quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 435 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group bought a new stake in CMS Energy during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 2,900.0% during the 4th quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after acquiring an additional 696 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

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.