NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Bought by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 599,130 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,885 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.13% of NiSource worth $22,024,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of NI. State Street Corp boosted its stake in NiSource by 5.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,249,000 after buying an additional 1,247,368 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 88.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,373,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,888,000 after purchasing an additional 99,882 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 lifted its stake in NiSource by 1.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,747,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,139,000 after purchasing an additional 178,365 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Performance

NiSource stock opened at $39.32 on Tuesday. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $26.26 and a fifty-two week high of $41.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $38.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $36.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The company has a market cap of $18.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted 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 return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were paid a $0.28 dividend. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.