CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Price Target Raised to $77.00 at Scotiabank

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) had its price target boosted by Scotiabank from $75.00 to $77.00 in a research note released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on CMS. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target 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. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Bank of America increased their price objective on CMS Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. StockNews.com lowered CMS Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, November 28th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, CMS Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $70.36.

CMS Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:CMS opened at $67.05 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. The firm has a market cap of $20.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.16, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.41. CMS Energy has a 12-month low of $55.10 and a 12-month high of $72.40. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $69.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $66.06.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.84 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 12.81% and a net margin of 14.01%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.61 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that CMS Energy will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.07%. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, November 13th. CMS Energy’s payout ratio is presently 58.86%.

Insider Buying and Selling at CMS Energy

In other CMS Energy news, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 936 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.50, for a total value of $64,116.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,417 shares in the company, valued at $1,672,564.50. This represents a 3.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.17, for a total value of $136,340.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 64,771 shares in the company, valued at $4,415,439.07. This represents a 3.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 325.4% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 26,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,582,000 after acquiring an additional 20,056 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 36.7% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 23,261 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,385,000 after purchasing an additional 6,247 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased 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 valued at $43,569,000 after acquiring an additional 325,101 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in CMS Energy by 12.8% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,626 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $279,000 after purchasing an additional 524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gradient Investments LLC increased its stake in CMS Energy by 1,476.1% during the second quarter. Gradient Investments LLC now owns 1,718 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 1,609 shares during the period. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.