NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Bought by DRW Securities LLC

DRW Securities LLC raised its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 38.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 325,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 89,766 shares during the quarter. NiSource makes up 0.4% of DRW Securities LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest holding. DRW Securities LLC owned about 0.07% of NiSource worth $11,965,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 110.9% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after purchasing an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,850,000 after acquiring an additional 16,364 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in NiSource by 21.7% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,720,000 after purchasing an additional 483,491 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in NiSource by 88.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares during the period. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in NiSource during the 4th quarter worth $566,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.33.

NiSource Price Performance

NI opened at $37.11 on Wednesday. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.26 and a 1 year high of $41.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.46 billion, a PE ratio of 22.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.14.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total value of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

NiSource Company Profile

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.