CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fifteen research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $69.85.

CMS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $70.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Guggenheim increased their price target on CMS Energy from $66.00 to $67.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 26th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of CMS Energy from $69.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $69.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On CMS Energy

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in CMS Energy by 431.3% in the 2nd quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 712 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 578 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the first quarter valued at about $43,000. Innealta Capital LLC purchased a new stake in CMS Energy during the second quarter worth about $43,000. Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in CMS Energy during the third quarter worth about $56,000. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. increased its holdings in CMS Energy by 25.7% in the third quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 798 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $56,000 after buying an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 93.57% of the company's stock.

CMS Energy Trading Down 1.4 %

CMS Energy stock traded down $1.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $70.76. 1,475,606 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,262,915. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 1.18 and a quick ratio of 0.87. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $69.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $64.21. The company has a market capitalization of $21.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.41. CMS Energy has a 52-week low of $53.53 and a 52-week high of $72.40.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.03. CMS Energy had a net margin of 13.10% and a return on equity of 12.25%. The firm had revenue of $1.61 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.75 EPS. The company's revenue was up 3.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that CMS Energy will post 3.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 27th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, November 13th will be paid a $0.515 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, November 13th. This is a positive change from CMS Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.51. This represents a $2.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. CMS Energy's payout ratio is currently 62.80%.

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.