NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Shares Purchased by SageView Advisory Group LLC

SageView Advisory Group LLC increased its position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 826 shares during the period. SageView Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $433,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of NiSource by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 7,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 323 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. raised its stake in NiSource by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 493,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,147,000 after acquiring an additional 6,096 shares in the last quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in NiSource by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 205,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,550,000 after acquiring an additional 9,410 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC grew its stake in shares of NiSource by 38.1% in the fourth quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 325,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,965,000 after purchasing an additional 89,766 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the fourth quarter valued at $15,522,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on NI. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $39.33.

NiSource Stock Performance

NYSE:NI opened at $39.45 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.23 and a 200-day moving average of $37.30. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $26.26 and a twelve month high of $41.45. The firm has a market cap of $18.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.48.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 quarter last year, the business posted $0.53 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.28 per share. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is 69.14%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of NiSource stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 14th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.