Moran Wealth Management LLC Raises Position in NiSource, Inc $NI

Moran Wealth Management LLC grew its position in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 100,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,942 shares during the period. Moran Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $4,051,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 5.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 60,844,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,439,236,000 after buying an additional 3,050,420 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 12.4% in the first quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 24,020,859 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $962,997,000 after buying an additional 2,650,827 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in NiSource by 8.0% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 11,577,832 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $464,155,000 after buying an additional 857,653 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 88.9% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 5,535,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $221,935,000 after purchasing an additional 2,605,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 4.7% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,638,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $185,976,000 after purchasing an additional 206,448 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Wall Street Zen cut shares of NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of NiSource from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $48.00 to $44.00 in a report on Friday, September 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NiSource in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $44.44.

NiSource Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NI stock opened at $42.93 on Wednesday. NiSource, Inc has a 12 month low of $34.23 and a 12 month high of $44.51. The stock has a market cap of $20.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.83, a P/E/G ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.47.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 8.25%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.21 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is presently 59.57%.

NiSource 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.