Point72 Asset Management L.P. Boosts Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 51.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,447,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 492,695 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. owned about 0.31% of NiSource worth $53,204,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NI. Barclays PLC boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 25.3% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,352,182 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,852,000 after buying an additional 273,159 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings 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 buying an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 101,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,720,000 after buying an additional 9,841 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 1.5% during the 4th quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 32,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,187,000 after buying an additional 464 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Contravisory Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $566,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael E. Jesanis sold 4,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $38.22, for a total value of $152,880.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 24,719 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $944,760.18. This trade represents a 13.93% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

NI has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Barclays raised their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Mizuho raised their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $41.50.

NiSource Stock Up 2.1%

NI opened at $38.68 on Friday. 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 50 day moving average price of $39.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.96. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.60 and a twelve month high of $41.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $18.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.88, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.98 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.08. NiSource had a net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. The firm had revenue of $2.03 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.85 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, August 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.90%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 60.54%.

NiSource Company 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.