BROOKFIELD Corp ON Cuts Stock Holdings in NiSource, Inc $NI

BROOKFIELD Corp ON trimmed its holdings in shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) by 26.5% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,847,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 666,956 shares during the period. NiSource comprises approximately 0.4% of BROOKFIELD Corp ON’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position. BROOKFIELD Corp ON owned about 0.39% of NiSource worth $74,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in NI. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB grew its position in NiSource by 64.2% during the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its position in NiSource by 48.8% during the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its position in NiSource by 44.7% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its position in NiSource by 57.3% during the 1st quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 1,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,000 after acquiring an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hemington Wealth Management grew its position in NiSource by 39.4% during the 1st quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 1,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on NI shares. Zacks Research upgraded NiSource to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, August 11th. 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 research report on Friday, September 5th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $44.00 price objective (up previously from $42.00) on shares of NiSource in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 9th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $43.88.

NiSource Trading Up 1.1%

NI opened at $41.18 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $19.39 billion, a PE ratio of 21.91, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. The business has a 50 day moving average of $41.51 and a 200-day moving average of $40.04. NiSource, Inc has a 52 week low of $33.32 and a 52 week high of $43.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released 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 company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.25% and a net margin of 14.46%.During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.21 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.7%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.57%.

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.