CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Short Interest Down 13.1% in March

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) saw a significant decline in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 7,810,000 shares, a decline of 13.1% from the February 28th total of 8,990,000 shares. Approximately 2.6% of the shares of the stock are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 2,240,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.5 days.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

CMS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a report on Friday, February 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Barclays raised CMS Energy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, CMS Energy currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.36.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other CMS Energy news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.77, for a total value of $147,540.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 71,931 shares of the company's stock, valued at $5,306,349.87. This represents a 2.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total transaction of $174,600.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 38,790 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. This trade represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532. 0.40% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of CMS Energy

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in CMS Energy in the fourth quarter worth $333,000. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 20,133 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,342,000 after acquiring an additional 5,662 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its position in CMS Energy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 76,560 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,103,000 after purchasing an additional 392 shares during the last quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its stake in CMS Energy by 49.9% during the 4th quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 26,808 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,787,000 after purchasing an additional 8,927 shares during the period. Finally, Hennessy Advisors Inc. grew its position in CMS Energy by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 170,698 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $11,377,000 after purchasing an additional 4,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 93.57% of the company's stock.

CMS Energy Stock Down 3.6 %

Shares of CMS traded down $2.70 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $72.81. The company had a trading volume of 4,394,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,237,564. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. CMS Energy has a 52 week low of $56.61 and a 52 week high of $76.45. The company's 50 day moving average price is $71.24 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.43. The stock has a market cap of $21.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.93, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.34.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.35% and a return on equity of 12.02%. On average, equities research analysts predict that CMS Energy will post 3.59 EPS for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were paid a $0.5425 dividend. This is an increase from CMS Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.17 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy's payout ratio is presently 65.36%.

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.