CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Price Target Lowered to $76.00 at BMO Capital Markets

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) had its target price lowered by BMO Capital Markets from $77.00 to $76.00 in a research note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. BMO Capital Markets currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on CMS. StockNews.com upgraded CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 29th. Mizuho downgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $72.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $63.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI raised shares of CMS Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $69.85.

CMS Energy Price Performance

NYSE CMS traded down $1.31 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $68.30. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,807,363 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,256,258. 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 has a 1 year low of $54.13 and a 1 year high of $72.40. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $69.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.62. The company has a market capitalization of $20.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.95, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.41.

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

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $0.515 dividend. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 63.19%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CMS Energy

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in CMS Energy by 101.7% during the second quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 6,891,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $410,223,000 after acquiring an additional 3,473,977 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 14.0% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 22,662,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,367,483,000 after purchasing an additional 2,786,071 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of CMS Energy by 310.2% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 1,125,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,519,000 after purchasing an additional 851,364 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 105.9% in the second quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,555,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,623,000 after purchasing an additional 800,344 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Railway Pension Investments Ltd purchased a new position in CMS Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $47,082,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.