NiSource Inc. (NI) To Go Ex-Dividend on April 29th

NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, March 19th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of 0.265 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, May 20th. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th.

NiSource has raised its dividend payment by an average of 6.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 13 years. NiSource has a payout ratio of 57.3% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect NiSource to earn $1.84 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.06 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 57.6%.

NiSource Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NiSource stock opened at $27.94 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.85. NiSource has a 52-week low of $22.86 and a 52-week high of $28.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $12.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $26.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $26.29.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 21st. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.55 by ($0.02). NiSource had a return on equity of 10.10% and a net margin of 12.98%. The firm had revenue of $1.42 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that NiSource will post 1.71 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on NI. Barclays raised their price target on NiSource from $28.00 to $29.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 22nd. StockNews.com raised NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total value of $297,019.06. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 23,720 shares in the company, valued at approximately $632,375.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.