NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) Holdings Decreased by BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S

BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S cut its holdings in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 27.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,281 shares during the quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S’s holdings in NiSource were worth $440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource during the 4th quarter worth about $1,049,000. HF Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in NiSource during the 4th quarter worth about $1,559,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in NiSource by 40.7% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,281,490 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,024,000 after buying an additional 370,805 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in NiSource by 19.0% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 803,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,337,000 after buying an additional 128,497 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners acquired a new stake in NiSource during the 4th quarter worth about $12,140,000. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 11,141 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.66, for a total transaction of $297,019.06. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 23,720 shares in the company, valued at $632,375.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on NI. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on NiSource from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, May 9th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $31.00 target price (up previously from $30.00) on shares of NiSource in a research note on Thursday, May 9th. StockNews.com raised NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 24th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on NiSource from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, NiSource currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $29.71.

NiSource Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE NI opened at $28.04 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $12.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.33, a PEG ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $27.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $26.73. NiSource Inc. has a 52 week low of $22.86 and a 52 week high of $29.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.66.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.83 by $0.02. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.56% and a net margin of 14.23%. The business had revenue of $1.71 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.77 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 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, August 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be issued a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $1.06 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.78%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 69.28%.

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.