NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Acquired by First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 21.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,065 shares during the period. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $456,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raymond James Trust N.A. boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Raymond James Trust N.A. now owns 8,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $237,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 16.7% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 3,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $80,000 after purchasing an additional 463 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp grew its holdings in NiSource by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 9,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after purchasing an additional 470 shares in the last quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 4.6% during the third quarter. Spreng Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its position in shares of NiSource by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 491 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on NI. Barclays raised their price objective on NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, February 24th.

NiSource Stock Performance

NiSource stock opened at $28.54 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $12.79 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.49. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $22.86 and a 12 month high of $28.95. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $27.17 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $26.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a current ratio of 0.85 and a quick ratio of 0.76.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.55 by ($0.02). NiSource had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 10.10%. The business had revenue of $1.42 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. Research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, May 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NiSource news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total transaction of $297,019.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,720 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $632,375.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.