CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Given New $68.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) had its price target boosted by BMO Capital Markets from $67.00 to $68.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday morning, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. KeyCorp upped their price target on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Seaport Res Ptn cut CMS Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on CMS Energy from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada lowered their target price on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $63.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group cut CMS Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $65.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $63.33.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

CMS Energy stock opened at $59.35 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.03, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.91. CMS Energy has a 1 year low of $49.87 and a 1 year high of $63.76. The company has a market cap of $17.72 billion, a PE ratio of 18.09, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50-day moving average is $58.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $57.42.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.97 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by $0.05. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.19% and a return on equity of 12.83%. The company had revenue of $2.18 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.70 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.32 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.515 per share. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, May 14th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 62.80%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 23rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $57.78, for a total value of $202,230.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 68,971 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,985,144.38. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.40% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CMS Energy

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 68.4% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 64,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,721,000 after purchasing an additional 26,034 shares during the last quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 49.9% during the 3rd quarter. Epoch Investment Partners Inc. now owns 302,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,051,000 after purchasing an additional 100,618 shares during the last quarter. New England Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 38.8% during the 3rd quarter. New England Asset Management Inc. now owns 132,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,061,000 after purchasing an additional 37,147 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in CMS Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $4,390,000. Finally, Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in CMS Energy by 3.7% during the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 203,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,821,000 after purchasing an additional 7,188 shares during the last quarter. 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.