Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Acquires 300 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in NiSource were worth $207,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 110.9% in the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 2,273 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after buying an additional 1,195 shares during the last quarter. Thomasville National Bank grew its position in NiSource by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 567,196 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,850,000 after acquiring an additional 16,364 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in NiSource by 21.7% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 2,712,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,720,000 after acquiring an additional 483,491 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in NiSource by 88.4% during the third 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 during the period. Finally, Verition Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 2,471,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $85,633,000 after purchasing an additional 34,093 shares during the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiSource Stock Down 1.0 %

NiSource stock opened at $39.18 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $38.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The firm has a market cap of $18.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $26.26 and a 52 week high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 last year, the company posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on NI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.89.

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.