CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Saturday.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $81.00 target price (up from $77.00) on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $71.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, CMS Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.00.

CMS Energy Trading Up 0.3%

CMS Energy stock opened at $69.00 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 1.06 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $71.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $70.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.47, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.39. CMS Energy has a 52-week low of $58.50 and a 52-week high of $76.45.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.32 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 12.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that CMS Energy will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 9th were paid a $0.5425 dividend. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 9th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.39%.

Insider Transactions at CMS Energy

In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,198 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.61, for a total transaction of $161,794.78. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 69,571 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,121,121.31. This 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. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 166,328 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted 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 purchasing an additional 2,297,928 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted 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 purchasing an additional 2,131,269 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted 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 purchasing an additional 98,910 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 753,173 shares during the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.