CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Downgraded by UBS Group

UBS Group cut shares of CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report released on Thursday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $65.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently weighed in on CMS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 13th. KeyCorp increased their price target on CMS Energy from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Seaport Res Ptn cut CMS Energy from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, January 8th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target 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, Guggenheim upgraded CMS Energy from a neutral rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the company from $60.00 to $64.00 in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $62.64.

CMS Energy Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE CMS opened at $58.65 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.38. CMS Energy has a 1-year low of $49.87 and a 1-year high of $63.76. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $58.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $56.91.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.05 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.04 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $1.95 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.62 billion. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 11.89%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 14.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that CMS Energy will post 3.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 12th were paid a $0.515 dividend. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. This is a boost from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.49. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 9th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.44%.

Insider Transactions at CMS Energy

In other news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 68,971 shares in the company, valued at $3,985,144.38. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CMS. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 320.9% during the fourth quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 4,305,602 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $250,026,000 after acquiring an additional 3,282,697 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec acquired a new stake in CMS Energy during the first quarter worth about $188,418,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in CMS Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $111,004,000. Morgan Stanley grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 75.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,457,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $282,303,000 after acquiring an additional 1,910,519 shares during the period. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in CMS Energy by 6,027.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,740,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $92,453,000 after acquiring an additional 1,712,368 shares during the period. 93.57% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.