Fmr LLC Increases Stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Fmr LLC increased its stake in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 0.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,396,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 99,882 shares during the period. Fmr LLC owned 2.44% of NiSource worth $394,888,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of NI. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of NiSource by 3.5% during the first quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 598,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,551,000 after buying an additional 20,060 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of NiSource by 5.4% in the first quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 9,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares during the period. Comerica Bank raised its stake in shares of NiSource by 57.6% in the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 115,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,186,000 after purchasing an additional 42,104 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of NiSource by 424.4% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 68,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,901,000 after purchasing an additional 55,620 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in NiSource by 57.2% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 11,882 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 4,324 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on NI shares. Barclays raised their price target on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of NiSource from $35.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 8th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 target price on the stock. 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 MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $37.50.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NI stock opened at $38.13 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.35 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 $38.56. The business’s 50 day moving average is $35.37 and its two-hundred day moving average is $32.16. The company has a market capitalization of $17.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.51.

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

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.