Intact Investment Management Inc. Acquires Shares of 1,800 NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Intact Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 1,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $66,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 153.2% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the last quarter. Spire Wealth Management purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Finally, iA Global Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $78,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.13.

NiSource Stock Performance

NI stock opened at $39.48 on Friday. 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 has a market capitalization of $18.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.37, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.50. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.25 and a 1 year high of $41.44. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $38.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $36.43.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (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 prior year, the firm earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd were issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.84%. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. The ex-dividend date was Monday, February 3rd. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.14%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total transaction of $219,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

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.