NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Sold by FIL Ltd

FIL Ltd trimmed its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,343,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 132,000 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd owned about 0.29% of NiSource worth $49,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 88.4% in the third 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $195,745,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 49.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,199,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $301,427,000 after acquiring an additional 2,714,262 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,124,492,000 after acquiring an additional 2,459,452 shares during the period. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 793.3% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 883,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,609,000 after acquiring an additional 784,495 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on NI. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Mizuho upped their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $39.33.

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 value of $219,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. This trade represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Trading Up 2.9 %

NYSE:NI opened at $38.20 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $39.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $17.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.58, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a 1 year low of $26.26 and a 1 year high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.54 by ($0.05). NiSource had a return on equity of 7.87% and a net margin of 13.94%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.53 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be given a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.93%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

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.