CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Director Sells $1,893,187.50 in Stock

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) Director John G. Russell sold 28,750 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.85, for a total transaction of $1,893,187.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 144,059 shares in the company, valued at $9,486,285.15. This represents a 16.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

CMS Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:CMS traded up $0.85 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $66.61. The company had a trading volume of 3,444,948 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,293,155. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $68.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $66.23. The firm has a market cap of $19.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a PEG ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 1.23, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.86. CMS Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $55.10 and a 52 week high of $72.40.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. CMS Energy had a net margin of 14.01% and a return on equity of 12.81%. The firm had revenue of $1.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.88 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.61 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that CMS Energy Co. will post 3.33 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Investors of record on Wednesday, November 13th were paid a dividend of $0.515 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, November 13th. This is an increase from CMS Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.09%. CMS Energy's payout ratio is 58.86%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

CMS has been the topic of several recent research reports. Mizuho lowered shares of CMS Energy from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $76.00 to $72.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. StockNews.com cut CMS Energy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on CMS Energy from $65.00 to $68.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $70.36.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James & Associates grew its position in shares of CMS Energy by 3.3% during the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 274,495 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $16,341,000 after purchasing an additional 8,741 shares in the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in shares of CMS Energy by 1.4% during the second quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 65,875 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,922,000 after buying an additional 888 shares during the last quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY lifted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 17.4% in the second quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY now owns 10,450 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $622,000 after buying an additional 1,550 shares in the last quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System boosted its position in shares of CMS Energy by 1.4% during the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 81,799 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,869,000 after acquiring an additional 1,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in CMS Energy by 2.6% during the second quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 259,050 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $15,421,000 after acquiring an additional 6,521 shares in the last quarter. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by 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.