CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) Stock Rating Lowered by Wall Street Zen

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) was downgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report issued on Wednesday.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on CMS. Barclays upgraded shares of CMS Energy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $68.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. Bank of America upped their price target 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. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $81.00 price target (up previously from $77.00) on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $69.00 price target on shares of CMS Energy in a research note on Friday, February 7th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of CMS Energy from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.00.

CMS Energy Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:CMS opened at $69.30 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $72.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.57. CMS Energy has a one year low of $58.50 and a one year high of $76.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.42.

CMS Energy (NYSE:CMS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The utilities provider reported $1.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $2.45 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.32 billion. CMS Energy had a return on equity of 12.02% and a net margin of 13.35%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.97 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that CMS Energy will post 3.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Brandon J. Hofmeister sold 2,198 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $73.61, for a total transaction of $161,794.78. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 69,571 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,121,121.31. The trade was a 3.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CMS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of CMS Energy by 32.4% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,256,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $950,227,000 after purchasing an additional 3,486,074 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $171,798,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of CMS Energy by 28.0% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 9,741,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $649,264,000 after purchasing an additional 2,131,269 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $106,745,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of CMS Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $89,173,000. 93.57% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.