Prudent Man Advisors LLC Sells 2,312 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Prudent Man Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 16,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,312 shares during the quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $617,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of NI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in NiSource by 53.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 5,124,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $176,194,000 after purchasing an additional 1,782,078 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,247,368 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. purchased a new position in NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth $32,162,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in NiSource by 793.3% during the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 883,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,609,000 after buying an additional 784,495 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE:NI opened at $40.79 on Friday. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $25.71 and a 52 week high of $40.88. The company has a market cap of $19.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $35.91.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced 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 net margin of 13.94% and a return on equity of 7.87%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were given a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Mizuho increased their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $38.13.

Insider Activity

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.