EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC Has $81,000 Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 343.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,705 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $81,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its holdings in NiSource by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $786,249,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247,368 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in NiSource by 88.4% in 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 in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $394,888,000 after purchasing an additional 99,882 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $375,020,000 after purchasing an additional 316,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,747,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,139,000 after purchasing an additional 178,365 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

NiSource Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NI stock opened at $38.91 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.49 and a 200-day moving average of $36.54. NiSource Inc. has a 1-year low of $26.26 and a 1-year high of $41.45. The stock has a market cap of $18.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.02, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.53 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.88%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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