Short Interest in CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Declines By 5.2%

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 9,150,000 shares, a decline of 5.2% from the September 30th total of 9,650,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,030,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.5 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on CMS. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.85.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lazard Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 48,203.8% in the first quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 50,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,059,000 after buying an additional 50,614 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 16.4% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 352,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,267,000 after buying an additional 49,630 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP lifted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 1,854.4% during the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 114,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,890,000 after acquiring an additional 108,350 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in CMS Energy by 56.8% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 74,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,511,000 after acquiring an additional 27,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of CMS Energy by 79.9% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 731,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,569,000 after buying an additional 325,101 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

CMS Energy Price Performance

NYSE:CMS traded down $0.47 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $69.14. The company had a trading volume of 718,571 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,246,406. CMS Energy has a 52-week low of $54.13 and a 52-week high of $72.40. The company has a market capitalization of $20.65 billion, a PE ratio of 21.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $69.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.78 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $1.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.88 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.61 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that CMS Energy will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 63.19%.

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.