DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale Has $5.20 Million Position in NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI)

DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in shares of NiSource Inc. (NYSE:NI) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 181,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,703 shares during the quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale’s holdings in NiSource were worth $5,199,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of NI. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. MCF Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. First Financial Corp IN acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the 1st quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of NiSource in the 2nd quarter valued at about $43,000. 91.64% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

NiSource Stock Down 0.6 %

NI stock opened at $34.18 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 0.63 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $31.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $29.30. The company has a market cap of $15.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.51. NiSource Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $22.86 and a fifty-two week high of $34.49.

NiSource (NYSE:NI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.21 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.15 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.16 billion. NiSource had a return on equity of 9.15% and a net margin of 14.76%. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.11 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that NiSource Inc. will post 1.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

NiSource Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 20th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.265 per share. This represents a $1.06 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. NiSource’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on NI shares. Bank of America started coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $37.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho started coverage on NiSource in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $33.00 price objective on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on NiSource from $34.00 to $36.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on NiSource from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 8th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on NiSource from $34.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $32.43.

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.