Geode Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 10,747,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 178,365 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $371,139,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in NI. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in NiSource in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. MCF Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the second quarter valued at $25,000. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in NiSource in the third quarter valued at $33,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC acquired a new position in NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in NiSource during the 3rd quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Up 0.1 %

NiSource stock opened at $36.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $17.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.16, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.46. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $24.80 and a fifty-two week high of $38.56. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.94 and a 200-day simple moving average of $32.79.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $986.00 million. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.19 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on NI shares. Barclays boosted their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on NiSource in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $37.50.

About NiSource

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.