SageView Advisory Group LLC Buys 9,070 Shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 70.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,070 shares during the quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in NiSource were worth $575,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter worth $36,000. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 46.2% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 1,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 491 shares in the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of NiSource during the 4th quarter worth $50,000. Finally, Tobam raised its holdings in shares of NiSource by 3,994.6% during the 4th quarter. Tobam now owns 2,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 2,237 shares in the last quarter. 91.64% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at NiSource

In other NiSource news, SVP Melanie B. Berman sold 3,742 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $27.96, for a total value of $104,626.32. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 19,978 shares in the company, valued at approximately $558,584.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.13% of the company’s stock.

NiSource Price Performance

Shares of NI opened at $28.07 on Wednesday. NiSource Inc. has a 12-month low of $22.86 and a 12-month high of $29.44. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $28.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $27.04. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20. The stock has a market cap of $12.58 billion, a PE ratio of 18.35, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.51.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by $0.02. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.56% and a net margin of 14.23%. The firm had revenue of $1.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.07 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.77 EPS. Analysts anticipate that NiSource Inc. will post 1.71 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, August 20th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a $0.265 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, July 30th. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.78%. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.28%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

NI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target 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 issued a $31.00 target price on shares of NiSource in a report on Tuesday. StockNews.com raised NiSource from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, February 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on NiSource from $30.00 to $31.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $29.50.

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.