Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Sells 4,692 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. decreased its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 71,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,692 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $2,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 153.2% in the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in NiSource in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Spire Wealth Management bought a new position in NiSource in the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Legacy Investment Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of NiSource during the third quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.13.

NiSource Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NI opened at $40.79 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $25.71 and a 1 year high of $40.88. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.97.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About NiSource

NiSource Inc, an energy holding company, operates as a regulated natural gas and electric utility company in the United States. It operates in two segments, Gas Distribution Operations and Electric Operations. The company distributes natural gas to approximately 3.3 million customers through approximately 55,000 miles of distribution main pipeline and the associated individual customer service lines; and 1,000 miles of transmission main pipeline in northern Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Maryland.