Versor Investments LP Buys New Position in NiSource, Inc $NI

Versor Investments LP bought a new stake in NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 5,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in NiSource by 64.2% in the 1st quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in NiSource by 48.8% in the 1st quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 266 shares during the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC lifted its holdings in NiSource by 44.7% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 1,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its holdings in NiSource by 105.0% in the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 1,281 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after acquiring an additional 656 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bellwether Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource in the 4th quarter valued at about $55,000. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on NI shares. Zacks Research raised shares of NiSource to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, August 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 8th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $42.56.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other news, EVP Melanie B. Berman sold 6,227 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.42, for a total value of $245,468.34. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 28,882 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,528.44. This represents a 17.74% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

NiSource Price Performance

NI stock opened at $42.8950 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.59, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. NiSource, Inc has a one year low of $32.51 and a one year high of $43.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $20.20 billion, a PE ratio of 22.82, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.02 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.82.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.21 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 8.25%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.21 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.6%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 59.57%.

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.