CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Price Target Increased to $73.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) had its price target lifted by Bank of America from $69.00 to $73.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the company. Evercore ISI raised CMS Energy to a hold rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on CMS Energy from $60.00 to $63.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $66.00 to $70.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock a sector outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, CMS Energy currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $67.33.

CMS Energy Price Performance

CMS stock opened at $67.67 on Thursday. CMS Energy has a 12 month low of $49.87 and a 12 month high of $68.08. The firm has a market cap of $20.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 1.18 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $62.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.88.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $1.61 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.73 billion. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.75 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that CMS Energy will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 2nd will be issued a $0.51 dividend. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 2nd. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 62.80%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 1,667 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total value of $99,986.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 68,330 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,098,433.40. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 1,667 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.98, for a total value of $99,986.66. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 68,330 shares in the company, valued at $4,098,433.40. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Jon E. Barfield sold 2,360 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.79, for a total value of $143,464.40. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 14,556 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $884,859.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.40% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of CMS. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in CMS Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $36,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its position in CMS Energy by 431.3% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of CMS Energy in the first quarter worth $43,000. Finally, Innealta Capital LLC bought a new stake in CMS Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $43,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company’s stock.

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.