Prossimo Advisors LLC Acquires 1,257 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Prossimo Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 10.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 13,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,257 shares during the period. Prossimo Advisors LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $492,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of NiSource by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 15,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $531,000 after buying an additional 309 shares in the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in NiSource by 12.0% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $119,000 after acquiring an additional 369 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of NiSource by 4.1% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 10,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $363,000 after acquiring an additional 414 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in shares of NiSource by 3.2% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 428 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC raised its stake in NiSource by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC now owns 27,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after purchasing an additional 432 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. 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. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of NiSource from $36.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, October 28th. They set a “buy” rating and a $39.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $38.13.

Insider Activity at NiSource

In related news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the business’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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares in the company, valued at $988,339.36. The trade was a 18.18 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

NiSource Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $39.86 on Wednesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $37.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $35.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13. NiSource Inc. has a 12 month low of $25.45 and a 12 month high of $39.99. The company has a market cap of $18.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.60, a PEG ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.54.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company posted $0.53 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, February 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, February 3rd will be issued a $0.28 dividend. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, February 3rd. This is a positive change from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.27. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.14%.

NiSource 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.