Insider Selling: NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) CAO Sells $219,560.00 in Stock

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

NiSource Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of NI stock opened at $39.97 on Friday. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $25.45 and a fifty-two week high of $40.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $18.78 billion, a PE ratio of 24.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.54. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $37.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $35.54.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Investors of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.14%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Brooklyn Investment Group grew its holdings in NiSource by 153.2% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 527 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in NiSource during the third quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on NI shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on NiSource in a research note on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho raised their price target on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

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.