Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Buys Shares of 6,729 NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH bought a new stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund bought 6,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $247,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in NiSource by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 22,691,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $786,249,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247,368 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in NiSource by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,888,000 after acquiring an additional 99,882 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC raised its stake in NiSource by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 10,823,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $375,020,000 after acquiring an additional 316,225 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in NiSource by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 10,747,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,139,000 after acquiring an additional 178,365 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $37.64 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $36.97 and its 200-day moving average is $34.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $17.57 billion, a PE ratio of 22.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.17. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $24.80 and a 12-month high of $38.83.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.05. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 14.63%. The company had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $986.00 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.19 earnings per share. NiSource’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.73 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This is an increase from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.98%. NiSource’s payout ratio is currently 64.24%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on NI shares. Mizuho boosted their price objective on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $37.50.

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.