Spirit of America Management Corp NY Increases Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Spirit of America Management Corp NY increased its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 3.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY’s holdings in NiSource were worth $754,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Thomasville National Bank increased its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.7% in the second quarter. Thomasville National Bank now owns 53,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,548,000 after buying an additional 372 shares during the period. Aurora Investment Counsel grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 0.7% in the second quarter. Aurora Investment Counsel now owns 62,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,803,000 after purchasing an additional 450 shares during the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in NiSource by 3.6% during the 1st quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 14,291 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC raised its position in NiSource by 5.4% during the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam lifted its holdings in NiSource by 22.2% in the 1st quarter. Tobam now owns 2,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $78,000 after buying an additional 510 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho began coverage on NiSource in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $36.29.

NiSource Price Performance

NI stock opened at $35.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $33.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $30.72. NiSource Inc. has a 52-week low of $24.58 and a 52-week high of $35.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $15.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.63, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.11 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 65.03%.

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.