NiSource (NYSE:NI) Sets New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Shares of NiSource, Inc (NYSE:NI) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $47.05 and last traded at $46.71, with a volume of 143322 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $46.36.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on NI. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $46.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Citigroup lifted their target price on NiSource from $44.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of NiSource in a report on Monday, December 29th. Wall Street Zen lowered NiSource from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, January 3rd. Finally, Barclays set a $45.00 price objective on NiSource in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $47.20.

NiSource Stock Up 1.2%

The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $42.94 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $42.65. The firm has a market cap of $22.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.81 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.69.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 11th. The utilities provider reported $0.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.49 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.20 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 8.07% and a net margin of 13.99%.During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.49 earnings per share. NiSource has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.020-2.070 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that NiSource, Inc will post 1.91 earnings per share for the current year.

NiSource Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 20th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 3rd will be given a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. This is a boost from NiSource’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.28. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 3rd. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.54%.

Insider Activity

In other NiSource news, EVP Kimberly S. Cuccia sold 8,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, November 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.13, for a total transaction of $345,040.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 41,247 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,778,983.11. This trade represents a 16.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in NI. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC lifted its stake in NiSource by 55,625.2% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 16,866,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $680,411,000 after buying an additional 16,836,630 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in NiSource during the 4th quarter worth $336,852,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its stake in NiSource by 2,288.8% in the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 3,166,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $137,101,000 after purchasing an additional 3,033,764 shares during the period. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in shares of NiSource in the fourth quarter valued at about $100,965,000. Finally, ANTIPODES PARTNERS Ltd purchased a new position in shares of NiSource during the third quarter worth about $84,086,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 91.64% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Company Profile

NiSource, Inc (NYSE: NI) is a publicly traded energy holding company headquartered in Merrillville, Indiana, that primarily owns and operates regulated local gas and electric utilities in the United States. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company delivers natural gas and electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers and provides the associated distribution and transmission services that keep local energy systems functioning.

The company’s core activities include natural gas distribution, electric transmission and distribution, system operations, maintenance and emergency response.