Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Acquires 1,705 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 21.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,705 shares during the quarter. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $354,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in NiSource by 88.4% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 14,902,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,373,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,608 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at $219,977,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in NiSource in the fourth quarter worth $195,745,000. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in NiSource by 49.5% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 8,199,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $301,427,000 after buying an additional 2,714,262 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in NiSource by 4.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 57,793,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,124,492,000 after buying an additional 2,459,452 shares during the period. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other NiSource news, CAO Gunnar Gode sold 5,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $39.92, for a total value of $219,560.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 24,758 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $988,339.36. This represents a 18.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on NI shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of NiSource from $38.00 to $42.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on NiSource from $42.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on NiSource from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on NiSource from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on NiSource from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $41.11.

NiSource Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:NI opened at $39.34 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $39.15 and a 200-day moving average of $37.79. The firm has a market cap of $18.51 billion, a PE ratio of 24.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.13, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a twelve month low of $27.60 and a twelve month high of $41.45.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 12th. The utilities provider reported $0.49 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 business earned $0.53 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that NiSource Inc. will post 1.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, May 20th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.28 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $1.12 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.85%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.14%.

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.