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

CMS Energy Co. (NYSE:CMS) was the recipient of 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. Based on an average daily volume of 2,240,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.5 days. Approximately 2.6% of the company’s stock are short sold.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $73.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 24th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of CMS Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Barclays upgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on CMS Energy from $75.00 to $77.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $75.36.

CMS Energy Stock Up 0.0 %

CMS Energy stock opened at $75.14 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.34. The company has a market capitalization of $22.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.63, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.79. CMS Energy has a fifty-two week low of $56.61 and a fifty-two week high of $75.52.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.86 by $0.01. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 13.35%. Equities research analysts expect that CMS Energy will post 3.59 earnings per share for the current year.

CMS Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Monday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.5425 per share. This is an increase from CMS Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.52. This represents a $2.17 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. CMS Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.36%.

Insider Activity at CMS Energy

In other news, Director Laura Wright sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.84, for a total value of $174,600.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 38,790 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,709,093.60. This trade represents a 6.05 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Scott B. Mcintosh sold 6,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.76, for a total value of $467,392.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 21,643 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,509,815.68. The trade was a 23.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 11,200 shares of company stock worth $789,532. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of CMS. BankPlus Trust Department acquired a new position in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $29,000. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 106.8% in the fourth quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 235 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of CMS Energy by 2,900.0% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 720 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 696 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its holdings in shares of CMS Energy by 39.2% during the fourth quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Bank Ltd. purchased a new position in CMS Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $61,000. 93.57% of the stock is currently 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.